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o 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 
ATLANTIC  CABLE 


BY 
CHARLES_B£IGHT 

F.  R.  S.  E.,   A.  M.  Inst.  C.  E.,   M.  I.  E.  E. 

AUTHOR   OF   SUBMARINE   TELEGRAPHS,    SCIENCE  AND   ENGINEERING 
DURING  THE   VICTORIAN   ERA,    THE   EVOLUTION   OF   THE 
ELECTRIC    TELEGRAPH,     1837-1897,    THE    LIFE- 
STORY   OF   SIR   CHARLES   TILSTON   BRIGHT 


WITH  FIFTY-FOUR  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW    YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1903 


S69S- 

,B$7x 


Copyright,  1903,  by 
D.   APPLETON  AND   COMPANY 


Published  November,  1903 


SEP  2  2  1981 


PREFATORY    NOTE 


The  jubilee  of  Submarine  Telegraphy  having 
lately  been  achieved,  and  that  connected  with  the 
Atlantic  cable  being  somewhat  close  at  hand,  it 
has  been  thought  a  suitable  moment  for  the  ap- 
pearance of  this  little  volume. 

In  these  days  when  the  substitution  of  sub- 
marine cables  by  wireless  telegraphy  systems  is  a 
subject  of  common  talk,  it  may  be  well  to  pause 
for  a  moment  and  contemplate  the  period  of  time 
covered  by  the  gradual  evolution  of  old  and  exist- 
ing methods  which  at  length  achieved  the  result 
we  now  enjoy — a  practical  commercial  tele- 
graphic system  between  all  the  nations  of  the 
world,  and  notably  between  the  United  Kingdom 
and  America. 

By  a  somewhat  curious  coincidence  the  en- 
gineer of  the  first  Atlantic  cable  accomplished  his 
achievement  at  practically  the  same  youthful  age 
(twenty-six)  as  Mr.  Marconi  when  first  trans- 
mitting signals  across  the  Atlantic  without  any 
intervening  wires. 

C.  B. 

21  Old  Queen  Street,  Westminster,  S.  W., 

October,  1903. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 


Introductory 


PAGE 

13 


PART  II 

The  Pioneer  Line 


CHAP. 

I. 

Evolution    of    Atlantic    Telegraphy    in 

America  and  England 

.     27 

II. 

The  Manufacture  of  the  Line     . 

•     46 

III. 

The  First  Start      .... 

.     61 

IV. 

Preparations  for  Another  Attempt 

•     74 

V. 

The  Trial  Trip       .... 

.     84 

VI. 

The  Storm 

.     89 

VII. 

The  Renewed  Effort 

•  105 

/III. 

"Finis  Coronat  Opus" 

•  JI5 

IX. 

The  Celebration    . 

•  i37 

X. 

Working  the  Line  . 

. 

•  144 

XI. 

The  Inquest    . 

„ 

•  155 

PART  III 

Intermediate  Knowledge  and  Advance 

XII.     Other  Proposed  Routes 
XIII.    Experience,  Investigation,  and  Progress 


161 

169 


PART  IV 

Commercial  Success 

XIV.  The  1865  Cable  and  Expedition    .        .         .177 

XV.  Second  and  Successful  Attempt   .         .         .  1S8 

XVI.  Recovery    and    Completion    of    the    1865 

Cable    ........  197 

XVII.  Jubilations 208 

XVIII.  Subsequent  Atlantic  Lines  .         .         .         .212 

XIX.  Atlantic  Cable  Systems  of  To-day       .        .219 

7 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


H.M.S.   Agamemnon    entering   Valentia    Bay  with 
first  Atlantic  Cable        .         .         .       Frontispiece 

FIG.  PAGE 

i.  Newfoundland  Telegraph  Station,  1855    ...  29 

2.  The  Brooke  "Sounder"  ......  32 

3.  Specimen  of  the  Ocean  Bed      .....  34 

4.  John  Watkins  Brett,  Charles  Tilston  Bright,  Cyrus 

West  Field — Projectors 38 

5.  Manufacture  of  the  Core 49 

6.  Serving  the  Core  with  Hemp-Yarn  ....  50 

7.  Applying  the  Iron  Sheathing 51 

8.  The  Deep-Sea  Cable 52 

9.  The  Shore-End  Cable       .         .         .         .         .         -52 
10.  Coiling  the  Finished  Cable  into  the  Factory  Tanks  54 


U.S.N.S.  Niagara 

12.  The  Paying-out  Machine,  1857 

13.  Coiling  the  Cable  on  Board 

14.  Landing  the  Irish  End  of  the  Cable 

15.  Reshipment    of    the    Cable    aboard    H.M.S.    Aga- 

memnon   and    U.S.N.S.     Niagara    in     Keyham 
Basin  ..... 

16.  The  Self-Releasing  Brake 

17.  The  Principle  of  the  Brake 

18.  Bright's  Paying-out  Gear,  1858 

19.  The  Reflecting  Magnet    . 

20.  Reflecting  Galvanometer  and  Speaker 

21.  Principle  of  the  Reflecting  Instrument 

22.  Deck    of    H.M.S.    Agamemnon    with    Paying-out 

Apparatus     ....... 

23.  Stowage  of  the  Cable  Coil  on  the  Niagara 

24.  The  Loading  of  the  Agamemnon 

25.  Experimental  Maneuvers  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay 

26.  H.M.S.  Agememnon  in  a  Storm 

27.  The  Agamemnon  Storm:    Coals  Adrift    . 

28.  In  Collision  with  a  Whale  while  Cable-Laying 

29.  Landing  the  American  End      .... 

30.  Newfoundland  Telegraph  Station,  1858    . 


55 
57 
58 
63 


75 
77 
78 
80 
82 
83 
83 

84 

85 

85 

88 

96 

103 

123 

133 

135 


io  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIG. 

31.  Facsimile  of  the  First  Public   News   Message    Re 

ceived  through  the  Atlantic  Cable 

32.  The  North  Atlantic  Telegraph  Project,  i860    . 
^^.  The  North  Atlantic  Exploring  Expedition,  i860 

34.  The  Main  Cable,  i865-'66       .... 

35.  The  Great  Eastern  at  Sea         .... 

36.  Cable  and  Machinery  aboard  S.S.  Great  Eastern 

37.  The  Picking-up  Machine,  1866 

38.  Buoys,  Grapnels,  Mushrooms — and  Men 

39.  "Foul  in  Tank"  while  Paying-out    . 

40.  S.S.  Great  Eastern  Completing  the  Second  Atlantic 

Cable 

41.  Diagram  Illustrative  of  the  Final  Tactics  Adopted 

for  Picking  up  the  1865  Cable 

42.  S.S.  Great  Eastern 

43.  Anglo-American    Atlantic   Cable    (1894):    deep-sea 

type  

44.  Shore-End  of  the  1894  "Anglo"  Cable 

45.  Atlantic  Cable  Systems,  1903 


i.5° 
162 

167 
180 
183 
185 
191 

T93 
196 

199 

203 

205 

217 
217 
221 


PART   I 

INTRODUCTORY 


INTRODUCTORY 

The  Electric  Telegraph — First  Land  Telegraphs — First 
Submarine  Cables:  Dover  to  Calais,  1850-51 — Other 
Early  Cables:   England  to  Ireland,  1853,  etc. 

The  Electric  Telegraph. — The  advances  made 
in  electric  science  are  so  bold  and  rapid  that  our 
still  comparative  ignorance  of  the  precise  nature 
of  electricity  must  always  seem  strange.  We 
are  not,  however,  here  directly  concerned  with 
electricity  as  a  physical  science,  but  rather  with 
its  practical  applications  to  the  still  present  system 
of  telegraphy,  by  way  of  introduction  to  the 
gradual  development  of  Trans-Atlantic  teleg- 
raphy. The  electric  telegraph,  together  with  the 
railway-train  and  the  steamship,  constitute  the 
three  most  conspicuous  features  of  latter-day 
civilization.  Indeed,  it  may  be  truly  said  that  the 
harnessing  of  this  force  of  nature  (electricity) 
to  the  service  of  man  for  human  intercourse  has 
effected  a  change  in  political,  commercial,  and 
social  relations,  even  more  complete  than  that 
wrought  by  steam  locomotion.  Like  its  fellow 
emblems,  the  telegraph  was  the  outcome  of  many 
years  of  persevering  effort  on  the  part  of  numer- 
ous scientific  investigators  and  inventors ;  like 
them  also,  it  was  perfected  for  practical  use  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  by  men  of  our  own  race 

13 


14       THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

and   speech,    such   as    Cooke,    Wheatstone,    and 
Morse. 

The  First  Land  Telegraphs. — The  first  practi- 
cal telegraph-line  in  the  world — namely,  that  on 
the  Great  Western  Railway  from  Paddington  to 
West  Drayton,  shortly  afterward  extended  to 
Slough — was  within  the  year  of  Queen  Victoria's 
accession  to  the  throne,  and  in  the  same  year  as 
the  first  trunk  line  of  railway  and  the  first  ocean 
steamer.*  Improvements  and  novelties  in  tele- 
graphic instruments  were  rapidly  made  by  invent- 
ors from  all  the  civilized  nations — e.  g.,  Morse, 
Vail,  and  Henry  in  America ;  Breguet  in  France ; 
Steinheil  and  Siemens  &  Halske  in  Germany ; 
and  Schilling  in  Russia ;  besides  Alexander  Bain, 
Bright,  and  Hughes  in  England.  Commer- 
cial interests  were  soon  formed  to  work  the 
new  invention,  and  in  England  the  Electric  and 
International  Telegraph  Company,  the  British 
and  Irish  Magnetic  Telegraph  Company,  and 
other  large  concerns  were  the  means  of  establish- 
ing telegraphic  communication  throughout  the 
kingdom — only  to  be  absorbed  by  Government 
later  on.  Our  theme  does  not  include — even  in 
the  course  of  introduction — a  study  of  the  devel- 
opment of  land  telegraphy.  The  apparatus  and 
methods  employed  are,  to  a  great  extent,  entirely 
different ;  indeed,  the  only  point  in  common 
between  the  cardinal  principles  and  submarine 
telegraphy  is  that  electricity,  as  generated  by  a 
voltaic  battery,  is  the  common  agent,  and  con- 

*  For  particulars  regarding  preelectrical  telegraphy  and 
previous  researches  in  electrotelegraphy,  the  reader  is 
referred  to  A  Historv  of  Telegraphy  to  the  year  1837,  by 
J,  J.  Fahie,  M.I.E.E.YE.  and  F.  N.  Spon,  1S84). 


INTRODUCTORY  1 5 

sequently  the  metal  conducting-wire  is  employed 
in  both.*  But  in  subaqueous  (as  well  as  in  sub- 
terranean) telegraphy  the  poles  and  porcelain 
insulators  require  to  be  substituted  by  an  insula- 
ting covering  round  the  entire  conductor  ;  and  the 
point  of  contact  in  practise  between  land  and 
marine  telegraphy  is  really,  therefore,  in  the  mat- 
ter of  insulation  for  subterranean  or  subaqueous 
wires. 

First  Sub  marine  Cables. — A  Spaniard  named 
Salva  appears  to  have  suggested  the  feasibility 
of  submarine  telegraphy  as  far  back  as  1795,  and 
in  181 1  Sommering  and  Schilling  conducted  a 
series  of  experiments,  more  or  less  practical, 
when  a  soluble  material — said  to  have  been  india- 
rubber — was  first  used  for  insulating  the  wire. 

But  the  earliest  records  of  practical  telegraphy 
under  water  of  which  there  are  any  particu- 
lars relate  to  the  experiments  conducted  by 
Dr.  O'Shaughnessy  (afterward  Sir  William 
O'Shaughnessy  Brooke,  F.R.S.)  across  the  River 
Hugh  on  behalf  of  the  East  Indian  Company  in 
1838.1  Referring  to  his  practical  researches  a 
little  later,  O'Shaughnessy  remarked:  "Insula- 
tion, according  to  my  experiments,  is  best  ac- 
complished by  enclosing  the  wire  (previously 
pitched)  in  a  split  rattan,  and  then  paying  the 
rattan  round  with  tarred  yarn ;  or  the  wire  may 
— as    in    some   experiments   by   Colonel    Pasley, 

*  A  certain  knowledge  regarding  electric  and  magnetic 
science  has  to  be  assumed  here;  and,  for  further  particulars 
on  this  subject,  the  reader  is  referred  to  another  volume  of 
this  series,  The  Story  of  Electricity,  by  lohn  Munro. 

t  Submarine  Telegraphs :  Their  History,  Construction, 
and  Working,  by  Charles  Bright,  F.R.S.E.,  A.M.  Inst. 
C.E.,  M.I.E.E.  (London  :    Crosby  Lockwood   &  Son,  1898.) 


1 6       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

R.E.,  at  Chatham — be  surrounded  by  strands  of 
tarred  rope,  and  this  by  pitched  yarn.  An  in- 
sulated rope  of  this  kind  may  be  spread  across  a 
wet  field — nay,  even  led  through  a  river — and 
will  still  conduct  the  electrical  signals,  without 
any  appreciable  loss."  In  1840  Professor  Wheat- 
stone  (afterward  Sir  Charles  Wheatstone, 
F.R.S.)  explained  to  a  committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons  the  methods  by  which  he  thought  it 
possible  to  establish  telegraphic  communication 
between  Dover  and  Calais.  He  appears  to  have 
been  unaware  of  the  prior  experiments  just  al- 
luded to,  for  his  system  of  insulation,  though 
more  fully  developed,  was  practically  the  same. 

Prof.  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  the  well-known  in- 
ventor of  the  telegraph  apparatus  bearing  his 
name,  also  made  a  study  of  this  problem  in  1842, 
when  he  laid  down  an  insulated  copper  wire 
across  New  York  harbor,  through  which  he 
transmitted  electric  currents.  Hemp  soaked  in 
tar  and  pitch,  surrounded  with  a  layer  of  india- 
rubber,  constituted  the  insulation.  Morse  was  a 
great  letter-writer,  and  records  of  his  early  work 
are  solely  based  on  his  own  statements  at  a  time 
when  he  noted  in  his  diary:  "I  am  crushed  for 
want  of  means.  My  stockings  all  want  to  see 
my  mother,  and  my  hat  is  hoary  with  age."  In 
1845  Ezra  Cornell,  who  was  afterward  the 
founder  of  Cornell  University,  laid  a  cable, 
twelve  miles  long,  to  connect  Fort  Lee  with  New 
York,  in  the  Hudson  River.  The  cable  consisted 
of  two  cotton-covered  copper  wires,  insulated 
with  india-rubber,  and  enclosed  in  a  leaden  pipe. 
It  worked  well  for  several  months,  but  was  bro- 
ken by  ice  in  1846.      In  that  year  Mr.  Charles 


INTRODUCTORY  17 

West  paid  out  by  hand  an  india-rubber  insulated 
wire  in  Portsmouth  harbor,  through  which  he 
signaled  from  a  boat  to  the  shore.  The  experi- 
ment was  intended  as  the  forerunner  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  telegraphic  communication  between 
England  and  France,  but  for  want  of  the  neces- 
sary funds  was  not  followed  up. 

Subaqueous,  or  marine,  telegraphy  owed  its  in- 
stitution, however,  to  the  introduction  of  gutta- 
percha, for  insulating  purposes.  The  late  Dr. 
Werner  Siemens  having  invented  a  machine  for 
applying  gutta-percha  to  a  wire — similar  in  prin- 
ciple to  the  machine  for  making  macaroni — con- 
siderable lengths  of  gutta-percha-covered  sub- 
terranean wires  were  laid  in  Germany  and 
Prussia  between  1846  and  1849;  and  in  1849 
Siemens  laid  a  gutta-percha  insulated  conductor 
in  the  harbor  of  Kiel  which  was  used  for  firing 
mines.  Following  this  came  the  extensive  system 
of  underground  lines  laid  down  in  England  for 
the  Magnetic  Telegraph  Company  by  their  engi- 
neer, Mr.  (afterward  Sir  Charles)  Bright,  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  patent  of  his.  Short  lengths 
were  also  laid,  mostly  through  tunnels,  by  the 
Electric  Telegraph  Company  a  little  later. 

On  the  10th  day  of  January,  1849,  tne  late 
Mr.  C.  V.  Walker,  F.R.S.,  electrician  to  the 
Southeastern  Railway,  laid  a  gutta-percha-cov- 
ered conductor,  two  miles  long,  in  the  English 
Channel.  The  wire  was  coiled  on  a  drum  on 
board  the  laying  vessel,  from  which  it  was  paid 
out  as  the  vessel  progressed.  Starting  from  the 
beach  at  Folkestone,  the  line  was  joined  up  to  an 
aerial  wire,  83  miles  in  length,  along  the  South- 
eastern Railway,  and  Mr.  Walker,  on  board  the 
2 


1 8   THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

Princess    Clementine,    succeeded    in   exchanging 
telegrams  with  London. 

On  the  23d  July,  1845,  the  brothers  Jacob  and 
John  Watkins  Brett  addressed  themselves  to  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  as  Prime  Minister  and  First  Lord 
of  the  Treasury,  relative  to  a  proposal  of  theirs 
for  establishing  a  general  system  of  telegraphic 
communication — oceanic  and  otherwise.  They 
were  referred  to  the  Admiralty,  Foreign  Office, 
etc.,  and  gradually  became  involved  in  a  depart- 
mental correspondence — more  academic  than  use- 
ful— in  which  they  were  passed  backward  and 
forward  from  one  government  office  to  another. 
After  considerable  negotiations  with  both  govern- 
ments concerned,  a  concession  was  at  last  ob- 
tained by  the  Messrs.  Brett,  and  a  company 
formed  for  instituting  telegraphy  between  Eng- 
land and  France  by  means  of  a  line  from  Dover 
to  Calais.  Twenty-five  nautical  miles  of  No.  14 
copper  wire  covered  with  y2  -inch  thickness  of 
gutta-percha  was  then  manufactured,  the  electri- 
cian's tongue  being  the  only  test  applied  to  some 
of  the  lengths.  The  shore  ends  for  about  two 
miles  from  each  terminus  consisted  of  a  No.  16 
B.W.G.*  conductor  covered  with  cotton  soaked 
in  india-rubber  solution,  the  whole  being  incased 
in  a  very  thick  lead  tube.  The  rest  of  the  line 
was  composed  of  the  gutta-percha  insulated  wire 
above  described,  with  30-pound  leaden  weights 
fastened  to  it  at  100-yard  intervals, f  the  laying 

*  B.W.G. — Birmingham  Wire  Gage. 

t  It  was  gravely  suggested  by  a  prominent  naval  officer 
to  thread  the  line  through  old  cannonades  lying  idle,  at 
Portsmouth  harbor.  This  notion  was  not  taken  up;  but  a 
light  chain  twined  round  the  insulated  conductor  throughout 


INTRODUCTORY  19 

vessel  having  to  be  stopped  each  time  one  was 
put  on.  The  submersion  of  the  line  was  success- 
fully effected,  but  it  only  lived  to  speak  a  few 
more  or  less  incoherent  words — one  being  a  short 
complimentary  communication  to  Louis  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  shortly  afterward  Emperor  of  the 
French.  It  subsequently  transpired  that  a  Bou- 
logne fisherman  had  hooked  up  the  line  with  his 
trawl,  "mistaking  it  for  a  new  kind  of  seaweed!" 
This  enterprise  excited  little  attention  at  the  time. 
It  was,  in  fact,  regarded  as  a  "mad  freak"  and 
even  as  a  "gigantic  swindle."  When  accomplished, 
The  Times  remarked,  in  the  words  of  Shake- 
speare, "The  jest  of  yesterday  has  become  the  fact 
of  to-day" ;  and  a  few  hours  later  it  might  with 
equal  truth  have  been  said  that  "the  fact  of  yester- 
day has  become  the  jest  of  to-day!"  The  feasi- 
bility of  laying  such  a  line  and  of  transmitting 
electric  signals  across  the  Channel  had,  however, 
been  proved.  The  signals  obtained  had,  more- 
over, the  effect  of  eradicating  the  then  very 
prevalent  belief  that,  even  if  the  line  were  suc- 
cessfully submerged,  the  current  would  become 
dissipated  in  the  water.*  It  now  remained  to 
find  a  satisfactory  method  of  protecting  the  insu- 
lated conductor  from  injury  during  and  after 
laying.  The  excellence  of  the  insulating  material 
was  recently  testified  to  when  some  portions  were 
recovered. 

its  length  would  certainly  have  served  the  purpose  better  than 
the  leaden  weights,  inasmuch  as  it  would  have  protected  the 
line  from  chafing,  besides  being  less  liable  to  damage  the  core. 
*  Some  critics  had  actually  supposed  that  the  method  of 
signaling  was  that  of  pulling  the  wire  after  the  manner 
of  mechanical  house-bells;  and  were  at  pains  to  point  out 
that  the  bottom  of  the  channel  was  too  rough  for  that. 


20       THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

Though  the  above  line  was  not,  practically 
speaking,  turned  to  any  account,  it  was  by  no 
means  abortive,  for  the  signals  it  had  conveyed 
were  sufficient  to  "save  the  concession,"  which 
was  renewed  by  the  French  Government  on  De- 
cember 19,  1850.  But  the  previous  failure  had 
made  capitalists  distrustful ;  and  only  some  weeks 
before  the  expiration  of  the  time  limit  the  neces- 
sary funds  had  not  been  raised. 

Dover-Calais,  i85o-'5i. — The  undertaking  was 
saved  by  the  energy  and  talent  of  one  man,  Mr. 
T.  R.  Crampton,  an  eminent  railway  engineer. 
He  raised  the  necessary  capital  (£15,000), 
putting  his  own  name  down  for  half  this  amount 
and  being  joined  by  Lord  de  Mauley  and  the  late 
Sir  James  Carmichael.  He  (Mr.  Crampton) 
also  settled  the  type  of  cable  to  be  laid — based  on 
the  iron  pit-rope ;  this,  in  one  form  or  another, 
practically  remains  the  type  of  to-day.  The  cable 
contained  four  copper  conducting-wires  of  No.  16 
B.W.G.,  each  one  covered  with  two  layers  of 
gutta-percha  to  No.  1  gage ;  these  four  insulated 
conductors,  or  "cores,"  were  laid  together  and 
the  interstices  filled  up  with  strands  of  tarred 
Russian  hemp.  The  outer  covering  consisted  of 
ten  galvanized-iron  wires  of  No.  1  gage  wound 
spirally  round  the  bundle  of  cores ;  this  armor 
was  provided  "with  a  view  to  protecting  the  in- 
sulated conductors  from  the  strains  and  chafing 
which  had  so  seriously  interfered  with  the 
chances  of  the  previous  line."  The  completed 
cable  weighed  about  seven  tons  to  the  mile.  It 
was  coiled  into  the  hold  of  an  old  pontoon  hulk, 
which  was  then  taken  in  tow  by  two  steamers.  A 
third  tug  to  stand  by,  and  a  small  man-of-war 


INTRODUCTORY  21 

steamer  to  act  as  pilot,  accompanied  the  laying 
expedition.  The  cable  was  landed  at  the  foot  of 
the  South  Foreland  lighthouse  and  paid  out 
toward  Cape  Sangatte,  but  the  weather  was  less 
favorable  than  on  the  previous  occasion ;  more- 
over, the  weight  of  the  cable — in  the  absence  of 
efficient  holding-back  gear — caused  it  to  run  out 
too  rapidly,  notwithstanding  the  slight  depth 
(some  30  fathoms)  encountered.  Added  to  this, 
the  tugs  drifted  with  the  wind  and  tide.  Thus 
when  the  vessels  arrived  within  about  a  mile  of 
the  French  coast  no  more  cable  was  left  on  board, 
and  a  fresh  length  had  to  be  procured  and  spliced 
on  before  the  line  was  complete.  This  cable 
proved  a  lasting  success :  it  underwent  numerous 
and  extensive  repairs,  and  it  was  only  quite  re- 
cently that  its  abandonment  took  place. 

Other  Early  Cables. — The  success  of  Cramp- 
ton's  line  gave  considerable  impetus  to  submarine 
telegraphy.  Similar  enterprises  sprung  up  on  all 
sides ;  but  many  failures  occurred  before  these 
operations  came  to  be  regarded  as  ordinary  in- 
dustrial undertakings.  In  the  course  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  (1852)  three  unsuccessful  attempts 
were  made  to  establish  telegraphic  communica- 
tion between  England  and  Ireland.  In  the  first — 
between  Holyhead  and  Howth — the  cable  was  not 
heavy  enough  to  contend  with  the  rough  bottom, 
and  strong  currents  and  disturbances  from 
anchors  experienced  in  these  waters ;  but  this 
undertaking  is  remarkable  as  being  the  only  in- 
stance in  which  an  effort  was  made  to  do  without 
any  intermediate  serving  between  the  insulated 
conductor  and  the  iron  sheathing.  In  the  second 
attempt — between  Port  Patrick  (Scotland)   and 


22       THE   STORY   OF   THE  ATLANTIC   CABLE 

Donaghadee  (Ireland) — the  cable  consisted  of  a 
central  copper  conductor  covered  first  with  india- 
rubber,  then  with  gutta-percha,  and  then  hemp 
outside  all.  This  cable,  being  far  too  light,  was 
actually  carried  away  by  the  strong  tidal  currents 
and  even  broken  into  pieces  during  laying.  In 
the  third  endeavor,  between  the  same  two  points, 
the  arrangements  for  checking  the  cable  while 
paying  out  being  again  inadequate,  there  was  not 
sufficient  to  reach  the  farther  shore.  However, 
in  1853,  a  heavy  cable,  weighing  7  tons  per  mile, 
with  six  conductors,  was  successfully  laid  for  the 
Magnetic  Telegraph  Company  by  the  late  Sir 
Charles  Bright.*  This  was  in  upward  of  180 
fathoms — the  deepest  water  in  which  a  cable  was 
laid  for  some  time — and  proved  a  permanent  suc- 
cess, forming  the  first  establishment  of  telegraphic 
communication  with  Ireland.  Only  a  year 
elapsed  before  it  became  evident  that  another 
cable  was  required  to  meet  the  traffic  between 
England  and  the  Continent,  and  an  additional  line 
was  laid  from  Dover  to  Ostend.  Anglo-Dutch 
and  Anglo-German  cables  followed  in  due  course ; 
and  in  less  than  ten  years  from  the  commence- 
ment of  its  operations  over  the  first  Channel  cable, 
the  Submarine  Telegraph  Company  (since  ab- 
sorbed by  the  state)  was  working  at  least  half  a 
dozen  really  excellent  cables,  varying  from  25  to 
117  miles  in  length,  connecting  England  with  the 
rest  of  Europe.  During  the  next  few  years  sub- 
marine communication  was  established  between 
Denmark  and  Sweden,  as  well  as  between  Italy, 
Corsica,  and  Sardinia ;  and  between  Sardinia  and 

*  For  further  particulars,  see  the  Life  Story  of  Sir  Charles 
Tilston  Bright.     (London:  Archibald  Constable  &  Co.,  1898.) 


INTRODUCTORY  23 

the  north  coast  of  Africa;  but  where  successful, 
the  measures  adopted  were,  in  the  main,  similar 
to  those  we  have  already  described  in  connection 
with  the  preceding  lines,  though  special  condi- 
tions were,  in  some  instances,  the  means  of  intro- 
ducing certain  modifications  and  improvements. 
Several  serious  failures  were,  however,  experi- 
enced in  the  deep  water  of  the  Mediterranean 
which  had  a  detracting  effect — in  the  public  mind 
— on  the  chances  of  the  great  undertaking  which 
was  to  follow. 


PART    II 

THE   PIONEER   LINE 


CHAPTER   I 

EVOLUTION  OF  ATLANTIC  TELEGRAPHY  IN 
AMERICA  AND  ENGLAND 

Gradual  Evolution — The  Projectors — Survey  of  the 
Route — Soundings — Nature  of  the  Ocean  Bed — 
Formation  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company — 
Raising  Capital — Critics,  "  Croakers,"  and  Crude 
Inventors. 

As  has  been  shown  in  the  introductory  chapter, 
the  efforts  of  the  early  projectors  of  submarine 
telegraphy  were  at  first  confined  to  connecting 
countries  divided  only  by  narrow  seas,  or  estab- 
lishing communication  between  points  on  the 
same  seaboard.  The  next  step  forward,  with 
which  we  are  here  immediately  concerned — that 
of  spanning  the  Atlantic  Ocean  between  Europe 
and  America — was  aptly  characterized  at  the  time 
as  "the  great  feat  of  the  century."  By  its  means 
the  people  of  the  two  great  continents  were  to 
speak  together  in  a  few  moments,  though  sepa- 
rated by  a  vast  ocean. 

This  was  the  first  venture  in  transoceanic 
telegraphy.  There  was  no  applicable  data  to  go 
upon ;  for  the  vast  difference  between  laying  short 
cable-lengths  across  rivers,  bays,  etc.,  in  shallow 
water,  and  that  of  laying  a  long  length  of  cable 
in  depths  of  over  two  miles  across  an  open  ocean 
will  be  easily  recognized — at  any  rate,  by  the 
sailor  and  engineer. 

The  wires  of  the  Magnetic  Telegraph  Company 

27 


28       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

had  already  been  carried  to  various  points  on 
the  west  and  south  coast  of  Ireland;  and,  in 
1852,  Mr.  F.  N.  Gisborne,  a  very  able  English 
engineer,  obtained  an  exclusive  concession  for 
connecting  St.  Johns,  Newfoundland,  with  Cape 
Ray,  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  by  an  overhead 
telegraph-line.  The  idea  was  to  "tap"  steamers 
coming  from  London  to  Cape  Race  at  St.  Johns, 
and  pass  messages  between  that  point  and  Cape 
Breton,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Gulf,  by  carrier- 
pigeons.  A  few  miles  of  cables  were  made  in 
England,  and  laid  between  Prince  Edward  Island 
and  New  Brunswick.  Mr.  Gisborne  then  sur- 
veyed the  route  for  the  land-line  across  New- 
foundland, and  had  erected  some  forty  miles  of  it, 
when  the  work  was  stopped  for  want  of  funds. 
When  in  New  York  in  1854,  Gisborne  was  in- 
troduced to  Mr.  Cyrus  West  Field,  a  retired  mer- 
chant, who  became  enthusiastic  on  the  subject, 
and  formed  a  small,  but  strong,  syndicate  for  the 
practical  realization  of  Gisborne's  scheme.  A 
cable  eighty-five  miles  in  length  was  made  in 
England,  to  be  laid  between  Cape  Breton  and 
Newfoundland ;  but  after  forty  miles  had  been 
paid  out,  rough  weather  ensued,  and  the  undertak- 
ing had  to  be  abandoned.  A  fresh  instalment  was, 
however,  sent  out  in  1856,  and  successfully  laid 
across  the  Gulf,  thus  connecting  St.  Johns  with 
Canada  and  the  American  lines.  The  conductor 
of  this  line  instead  of  being  a  single  solid  wire 
was,  for  the  first  time,  composed  of  several  small 
wires  laid  up  together  in  strand  form — with  a 
view  to  avoiding  a  flaw  in  any  single  wire  stop- 
ping the  conductivity,  besides  affording  increased 
mechanical  pliability. 


,-£■'•• 


IE- 


***^P^£5*Si8!\ 


;'E" 


^\f\ 


Fig.  i,— Newfoundland  Telegraph  Station,  1855. 


29 


SO      THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

The  feasibility  of  uniting  the  two  vast  systems 
of  telegraphy  had  engaged  the  consideration  of 
some  of  those  most  prominently  associated  with 
electric  telegraphy  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 
It  had  been  already  shown  that  cables  could  be 
successfully  laid  and  maintained  in  comparatively 
moderate  depths  in  the  Mediterranean,  Black  Sea, 
etc.,  but  the  nearest  points  between  the  British 
Isles  and  Newfoundland  are  nearly  2,000  miles 
apart.  The  greatest  length  of  submarine  line 
which  had  hitherto  been  effectively  submerged — 
no  miles — formed  but  an  insignificant  portion  of 
such  an  enormous  distance ;  and  that,  too,  in- 
volving a  depth  of  nearly  three  miles  for  a  large 
proportion  of  the  way,  instead  of  about  300 
fathoms. 

Apart  from  the  engineering  difficulties  entailed 
by  this  vast  distance  and  depth,  the  question  was 
then  undetermined  as  to  the  possibility  of  convey- 
ing electric  currents  through  such  a  length  in  an 
unbroken  circuit,  and  at  a  speed  that  would  enable 
messages  to  be  passed  rapidly  enough  in  succes- 
sion to  prove  remunerative.  Various  researches 
had  been  made — by  Faraday  among  others — 
with  a  view  to  determining  the  law  in  relation  to 
the  velocity  of  electricity  through  a  conducting- 
wire. 

The  retarding  effect  of  the  insulating  covering 
had  already  been  discovered ;  but  the  exact  for- 
mula for  the  working  speed  of  cables  of  definite 
proportions  and  lengths  was  not  correctly  arrived 
at  till  some  years  later.  The  similarity,  in  prin- 
ciple, of  a  cable  to  a  Ley  den  jar  was  first  pointed 
out  by  Mr.  Edward  Brailsford  Bright  in  the 
course  of  a  paper  read  before  the  British  Associa- 


EVOLUTION  OF  ATLANTIC  TELEGRAPHY   31 

tion  in  1854.  He  showed  that  on  charging  a 
gutta-percha-covered  wire,  the  insulating  ma- 
terial tended  to  absorb  and  retain  a  part  of  the 
charge  and  to  hold  back,  as  a  static  charge,  some 
of  the  electricity  flowing  as  current  through  the 
conductor — just  as  the  charge  (of  opposite  poten- 
tial) induced  on  the  outside  plate  of  a  Ley  den 
jar  statically  holds  the  primary  charge  on  the 
inner  plate,  until  either  are  neutralized.  The 
brothers,  Edward  and  Charles  Bright,  made  a 
series  of  extensive  experiments  on  long  lengths  of 
underground  wires  ;  and  these  investigations  were 
supplemented  later  by  Mr.  Edward  Orange  Wild- 
man  Whitehouse  (formerly  a  medical  practi- 
tioner), who  became  electrician  to  the  first  Atlan- 
tic cable.  Mr.  Whitehouse  was  a  man  of  very 
high  intellectual  and  scientific  attainments,  and  a 
most  ingenious  and  painstaking  experimenter. 

The  retardation  of  the  electric  current  through 
an  insulated  wire  due  to  induction — a  phenom- 
enon practically  unknown  wTith  bare,  aerial  wires 
suspended  on  posts,  and  of  no  consequence  with 
quite  short  cables — was  overcome  by  using  a  suc- 
cession of  opposite  currents.  By  this  means  the 
latter,  or  retarded,  portion  of  each  current  was 
"wiped  out"  by  the  opposite  current  immediately 
following  it;  and  thus  a  series  of  electric  waves 
could  be  made  to  traverse  the  cable,  one  after  the 
other,  several  being  in  the  act  of  passing  onward 
at  different  points  along  the  conductor  at  the 
same  time.  The  Messrs.  Bright  devised  a  special 
key  (embodied  with  a  patent  for  signaling 
through  long  cables)  for  transmitting  these  alter- 
nating currents  from  the  battery;  and  this  was 
followed  by  others  to  effect  the  same  object — one 


32   THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

by  Professor  Thomson  (now  Lord  Kelvin),  who 
became  electrical  adviser  to  the  enterprise. 

A  certain  degree  of  knowledge  regarding  the 
nature  of  the  bed  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  was  now 
available;  for  in  the  summer  of  1856  a  series  of 


Fig.  2.— The  Brooke  "Sounder. 


soundings  had  been  taken  by  Lieutenant  O.  H. 
Berryman,  U.S.N.,  from  U.S.N.  Arctic,  and  also 
independently  by  Commander  Joseph  Dayman, 
R.N.  (H.M.S.  Cyclops),  showing  what  was 
called  "a  gently  undulating  plateau  extending  the 
whole  distance  between  Ireland  and  British  North 
America."  These  depths  (averaging  about  2^2 
miles)   compared  favorably  with  those  that  had 


EVOLUTION  OF  ATLANTIC  TELEGRAPHY  33 

presented  themselves  farther  southward.  The 
ground  was  found  to  shoal  gradually  on  the  New- 
foundland side,  but  rose  more  rapidly  toward  the 
Irish  shore.  The  soundings  were  taken  with  the 
ingenious  apparatus  of  Lieut.  J.  M.  Brooke, 
U.S.N.  (Fig.  2),  which  formed  the  prototype  of 
all  similar  deep-sea  sounding-tubes  of  the  present 
day.  In  this,  at  the  extremity  of  the  sounding- 
line  a  light  iron  rod,  C,  hollowed  at  its  lower  end, 
passed  loosely  through  a  hole  in  the  center  of  a 
cannon-ball  weight,  A,  which  is  fastened  to  the 
line  by  a  couple  of  links.  On  the  bottom  being 
touched,  the  links  reverse  position,  owing  to  the 
weight  being  taken  off,  and  the  cannon-ball,  or 
plummet,  B,  being  set  free,  remains  on  the 
ground,  leaving  the  light  tube  only  to  be  drawn 
up  with  the  line.*  In  the  act  of  grounding,  how- 
ever, the  open  end  of  the  tube  presses  into  the  bot- 
tom, a  specimen  of  which  is  consequently  obtained 
— unless  it  be  rock  or  coral.  An  oozy  bottom  was 
found  throughout  the  soundings.  The  specimens 
brought  up  to  the  surface  were  shown  under  the 
microscope  to  consist  (Fig.  3)  of  the  tiny  shells 
of  animalcules — the  indestructible  outside  skele- 
tons of  the  animal  organisms  known  as  diatoma- 
cece  and  globigirence  foraminiferse  largely  com- 
posed of  carbonate  of  lime.f     No  sand  or  gravel 

*  It  will  be  readily  understood  that  without  this  weight, 
the  line  would  not  for  certain  descend  to  the  bottom — and 
certainly  not  in  a  straight  line — in  any  considerable  depths. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  impossible  to  recover  an 
effective  weight  without  great  risk  of  breaking  the  line.  For 
this  reason  the  weight  is  abandoned,  and  a  considerable 
number  may  be  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  in  every 
quarter  of  the  globe. 

f  These  live  near  the  surface  of  the  ocean  in  myriads 
upon   myriads,   incessantly   sinking   to   the   bottom   as   their 


34       THE   STORY    OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

was  found  on  the  ocean  bed,  from  which  it  was 
deduced  that  no  currents,  or  other  disturbing 
elements,  existed  at  those  depths ;  for  otherwise 
these   frail    shells   would   have  been   rubbed   to 


Fig.  3. — Specimen  of  the  Ocean  Bed. 
(Magnified  10,000  times.) 

pieces.  As  it  was,  they  came  up  entire — without 
a  sign  of  abrasion.  The  plateau  or  ridge — which 
was  found  to  extend  for  some  400  miles  in  breadth 
— was   considered  a  veritable  feather-bed  for  a 

short  life  is  ended.  Thus,  in  the  course  of  ages,  there  grows 
constantly  upward  a  formation  similar  to  the  chalk  cliffs  of 
England,  which  contain  the  identical  shells,  deposited  when 
this  country  was  submerged  far  below  sea-level  thousands  of 
years  ago. 


EVOLUTION  OF  ATLANTIC  TELEGRAPHY     35 

cable.  Indeed,  in  his  subsequent  report  to  the 
United  States  navy,  Lieut.  M.  F.  Maury,  U.S.N., 
spoke  of  this  "shallow  platform  or  table-land"  as 
having  been  "apparently  placed  for  the  express 
purpose  of  holding  the  wires  of  a  submarine  tele- 
graph and  of  keeping  them  out  of  harm's  way." 
Lieutenant  Maury  concluded  his  report  as  fol- 
lows :  "I  do  not,  however,  pretend  to  con- 
sider the  question  as  to  the  possibility  of  finding 
a  time  calm  enough,  the  sea  smooth  enough,  a 
wire  long  enough,  or  a  ship  big  enough,  to  lay  a 
coil  of  wire  sixteen  hundred  miles  in  length." 
These  words  form  amusing  reading  nowadays,  as 
do  also  the  suggestions  of  "telegraph  plateaus" 
furnished  by  Providence  as  a  resting-place  for  the 
Atlantic  cable.  The  "plateau"  idea  was  only  true 
to  the  extent  that  the  bed  of  the  ocean  in  these 
regions  afforded  a  smooth  surface  as  compared 
with  the  Alpine  character  prevailing  north  and 
south  of  it.  These  soundings  at  something  like 
fifty-mile  intervals  were  not,  however,  originally 
undertaken  with  the  Atlantic  cable  expressly  in 
view.  Indeed,  for  many  years — until  experience 
pointed  to  the  absolute  necessity — no  special  sur- 
veys were  made  previous  to  the  laying  of  a  cable.* 
Formation  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company, 
1856. — Cyrus  Field,  besides  being  a  man  of  san- 
guine temperament  and  intense  business  energy, 

*In  the  present  day,  however,  soundings  are  taken  at 
intervals  of  about  ten  miles  along  the  proposed  route,  and 
even  then  submarine  hills  and  valleys  are  frequently  en- 
countered. This  is  effected  by  means  of  the  Thomson 
steam  sounding-apparatus,  the  great  feature  of  which  is  a 
fine  steel  wire  (the  same  as  that  in  the  treble  notes  of  a  piano) 
in  place  of  a  hempen  line  of  enormous  bulk.  Nowadays, 
taking  a  sounding  in  the  Atlantic  occupies  well  under  an  hour 
of  time,  where  by  the  old  method  it  took  at  least  six  hours. 


36       THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

also  possessed  shrewdness  and  foresight.  Thus, 
he  immediately  recognized  the  value  of  Gis- 
borne's  concessions,  and  determined  to  turn  them 
to  the  fullest  account.  His  extraordinary  acumen 
told  him  that  by  improving  on  the  exclusive  land- 
ing rights  already  obtained  in  America,  he  would 
place  himself  in  the  strongest  possible  position  in 
regard  to  the  big  notion  of  an  Atlantic  cable.  No 
sooner  had  he  made  up  his  mind  to  this  effect  than 
he  set  to  work  to  accomplish  the  idea;  and  very 
soon  exclusive  rights  were  obtained  in  his  name 
(Gisborne  having  entirely  dropped  out  of  the  ne- 
gotiations) for  practically  every  important  point 
in  connection  with  the  landing  of  an  Atlantic 
cable  on  British  North  American  territory.  The 
period  for  these  rights  was  fifty  years,  besides 
which  he  obtained  various  grants  of  land.  Thus 
it  will  be  seen  he  had  assured  himself  a  very 
strong  position  in  connection  with  any  project  for 
an  Atlantic  cable  without  having  had  (in  the 
words  of  his  brother,  Henry  Field)  "any  experi- 
ence in  the  business  of  laying  a  submarine  tele- 
graph." Mr.  Field's  syndicate  was  about  this 
time  registered  as  the  New  York,  Newfoundland, 
and  London  Telegraph  Company,  which  was  now 
capable  of  debarring  competition  for  a  consider- 
able period,  at  any  rate. 

Armed  with  this  apparent  monopoly,  Mr.  Field 
went  over  to  England,  empowered  by  his  asso- 
ciates to  deal  with  the  exclusive  concession  pos- 
sessed by  the  above  company  for  the  coast  of 
Newfoundland  and  other  rights  in  Nova  Scotia, 
etc.  He  had  already  been  over  before  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  cable.  He 
had,  on  that  occasion,   met  Mr.  John  Watkins 


EVOLUTION  OF  ATLANTIC  TELEGRAPHY  37 

Brett,  who  thereupon  interested  himself  finan- 
cially in  the  "Newfoundland  Company."  On  his 
second  mission  (in  July,  1856)  he  at  once  put 
himself  into  communication  with  Mr.  (afterward 
Sir  Charles)  Bright,  who  was  known  to  be 
already  making  various  preparations  with  a  view 
to  an  Atlantic  cable  in  connection  with  the  Mag- 
netic Telegraph  system.  On  September  26,  1856, 
an  agreement  was  entered  into  between  Brett, 
Bright,  and  Field  in  the  following  terms,  their 
signatures  being  reproduced  as  they  appear  at  the 
foot  of  the  document : 

"Mutually,  and  on  equal  terms  we  engage  to 
exert  ourselves  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a 
Company  for  establishing  and  working  of  electric 
telegraphic  communication  between  Newfound- 
land and  Ireland,  such  Company  to  be  called  the 
Atlantic  Telegraph  Company,  or  by  such  other 
name  as  the  parties  hereto  shall  jointly  agree 
upon." 


JiTZMu. 


EVOLUTION  OF  ATLANTIC  TELEGRAPHY  39 

Let  us  see  now  what  the  united  efforts  of  these 
three  "projectors"  had  before  them.  The  ground 
had  already  been  to  some  extent  cleared  by 
their  individual  exertions  when  working  inde- 
pendently, as  well  as  in  other  ways.  Bright,  and 
also  Whitehouse,  had  already  proved  the  possi- 
bility of  signaling  through  such  a  length  of  insu- 
lated wire  as  that  involved  by  an  Atlantic  line. 
The  soundings  that  had  been  recently  taken 
showed  that  the  depth  was  only  unfavorable  in 
the  sense  of  being  something  far — but  uniformly 
— greater  than  that  in  which  any  cable  had  pre- 
viously been  submerged.  Finally,  the  favorable 
nature  of  the  landing  rights  secured  by  Field  on 
the  other  side  went  a  long  way  toward  insuring 
against  competition,  apart  from  the  actual  per- 
mission. There  yet  remained,  then,  the  necessity 
of  obtaining  (a)  Government  recognition,  and,  if 
possible,  Government  subsidies ;  (b)  the  confi- 
dence and  pecuniary  support  of  the  moneyed  mer- 
cantile class ;  besides  which  a  suitable  form  of 
cable  had  to  be  designed  and  manufactured,  as 
well  as  all  the  necessary  apparatus  for  the  laying 
of  the  same. 

As  a  result  of  considerable  discussion,  the  two 
governments  concerned  eventually  came  to  recog- 
nize the  importance  and  feasibility  of  this  under- 
taking for  linking  together  the  two  great  English- 
speaking  nations,  and  the  benefits  it  would  confer 
upon  humanity.  Both  the  British  and  United 
States  Governments  gave  a  subsidy,  in  return 
for  free  transmission  of  their  messages,  with 
priority    over    others.*      This,    however,     only 

*The  full  particulars  of  the  agreement  with  the  English 
Government  were  embodied  in  a  letter  from  the  Treasury 


40    THE   STORY    OF   THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

jointly  amounted  to  8  per  cent  of  the  capital,  and 
was  payable  only  while  the  cable  worked.* 

The  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company  was  regis- 
tered on  October  20,  1856,  and  the  i35o,ooo  de- 
cided on  as  the  necessary  capital  for  the  work  was 
then  sought  and  obtained  in  an  absolutely  un- 
precedented fashion.  There  was  no  promotion 
money,  no  prospectus  was  published,  no  adver- 
tisements, no  brokers,  and  no  commissions, 
neither  was  there  at  that  time  any  board  of  direct- 
ors or  executive  officers.  The  election  of  a  board 
was  reserved  for  a  meeting  of  shareholders,  to  be 
held  after  allotment  by  the  provisional  committee, 
consisting  of  the  subscribers  to  the  Memorandum 
of  Association.  Any  remuneration  to  the  pro- 
jectors was  left  wholly  dependent  on,  and  subse- 
quent to,  the  shareholders'  profits  being  over  10 
per  cent  per  annum,  after  which  the  projectors 
were  to  divide  the  surplus. 

The  campaign  was  opened  in  Liverpool,  the 
headquarters  of  the  "Magnetic"  Company,  the 
greater  proportion  of  whose  shareholders  were 
business  men — merchants  and  shipowners — 
mainly  hailing  from  Liverpool,  Manchester, 
Glasgow,  and  London,  who  appreciated  the  value 
of  America  being  connected  telegraphically  with 
Great  Britain  and  Europe  through  their  Irish 
lines. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  "Atlantic"  Company 
was  convened  for  November  12,  1856,  at  the  un- 
derwriters' rooms  in  the  Liverpool  Exchange. 
This  was  called  together  by  means  of  a  small  cir- 

(see  Life  Story  of  Sir  Charles  Bright)  and  form  instructive 
reading  even  at  the  present  time. 
*  Submarine  Telegraphs. 


EVOLUTION  OF  ATLANTIC  TELEGRAPHY  41 

cular  on  a  half-sheet  of  note-paper,  issued  by 
Mr.  E.  B.  Bright,  manager  of  the  "Magnetic" 
Company.  The  result  was  a  crowded  gathering 
composed  of  the  wealth,  enterprise,  and  influence 
of  Liverpool  and  other  important  business  and 
manufacturing  centers.  Similar  meetings  were 
also  held  in  Manchester  and  Glasgow,  and  a  pub- 
lic subscription  list  was  opened  at  the  "Magnetic" 
Company's  office  of  each  town.  In  the  course  of 
a  few  days  the  entire  capital  was  raised,  by  the 
issue  of  350  shares  of  £1,000  each,  chiefly  taken 
up  by  the  shareholders  of  the  "Magnetic"  Com- 
pany. Mr.  Cyrus  Field  had  reserved  £75,000 
for  American  subscription,  for  which  he  signed, 
but  his  confidence  in  his  compatriots  turned  out 
to  be  greatly  misplaced.  The  result  has  been  thus 
recounted  by  his  brother:  "He  (Cyrus  Field) 
thought  that  one-fourth  of  the  stock  should  be 
held  in  this  country  (the  United  States),  and  he 
did  not  doubt  from  the  eagerness  with  which 
three-fourths  had  been  taken  in  England,  that 
the  remainder  would  be  at  once  subscribed  in 
America."  In  point  of  fact,  it  was  only  after 
much  trouble  that  subscribers  were  obtained  in 
the  States  for  a  total  of  twenty-seven  shares,  or 
less  than  one-twelfth  of  the  total  capital.  Thus, 
notwithstanding  their  professed  enthusiasm,  the 
faith  of  the  Americans  in  the  project  proved  to  be 
strictly  limited.  At  any  rate,  they  did  not  rise  to 
the  occasion.  Indeed,  the  undertaking  was  very 
much  an  affair  of  the  Magnetic  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, the  officers  of  which  led  the  shareholders  to 
take  a  lively  interest  from  the  first  in  the  Atlantic 
project  as  forming  the  nucleus  of  a  great  exten- 
sion of  business. 


42       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

The  first  meeting  of  shareholders  took  place 
on  December  9,  1856,  when  a  board  of  directors 
was  elected.  This  included  the  late  George  Pea- 
body,  Samuel  Gurney,  T.  H.  Brooking,  T.  A. 
Hankey,  C.  M.  (afterward  Sir  Curtis)  Lampson, 
and  Sir  William  Brown,  of  Liverpool,  no  less 
than  nine  (representing  the  interests  of  different 
towns)  being  also  directors  of  the  "Magnetic" 
Company,  including  Mr.  J.  W.  Brett.  The  first 
chairman  was  Sir  William  Brown,  subsequently 
succeeded  by  the  Right  Hon.  James  Stuart- Wort- 
ley,  M.P.  Two  names  may  be  further  specially 
referred  to  as  destined,  in  different  ways,  to  have 
the  greatest  possible  influence  in  the  subsequent 
development  of  submarine  telegraphy.  Mr.  (aft- 
erward Sir  John)  Pender,  who  was  then  a  "Mag- 
netic" director,  afterward  took  a  leading  part  in 
the  vast  extensions  that  have  followed  to  the 
Mediterranean,  India,  China,  Australasia,  the 
Cape,  and  Brazil,  besides  several  of  the  subse- 
quent Atlantic  lines.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  death 
he  was  chairman  of  something  like  a  dozen, 
more  or  less  allied,  cable  companies,  representing 
some  £30,000,000  of  capital,  and  mainly  or- 
ganized through  his  foresight  and  business 
ability.  Then,  again,  Prof.  William  Thomson,  of 
Glasgow  University,  was  a  tower  of  scientific 
strength  on  the  Board.  He  had  been  from  the 
outset  an  ardent  believer  in  the  Atlantic  line. 
His  acquisition  as  a  director  was  destined  to 
prove  of  vast  importance  in  influencing  the  devel- 
opment of  transoceanic  communication,  for  his 
subsequent  experiments  on  the  cable  during 
i857-'58  led  up  to  his  invention  of  the  mirror  gal- 
vanometer  and    signaling   instrument,    whereby 


EVOLUTION  OF  ATLANTIC  TELEGRAPHY  43 

the  most  attenuated  currents  of  electricity,  which 
are  incapable  of  producing  visible  signals  on 
other  telegraphic  apparatus,  are  so  magnified  by 
the  use  of  a  reflected  beam  of  light  as  to  afford 
signals  readily  legible.  (A  full  description  of 
this  invention  will  be  found  in  its  proper  place — 
farther  on.) 

Mr.  (afterward  Sir  Charles)  Bright  was  ap- 
pointed engineer-in-chief,  with  Mr.  Wildman 
Whitehouse  (who  had  become  closely  associated 
with  the  project)  as  electrician,  while  Mr.  Cyrus 
Field  became  general  manager. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  because  the  capi- 
tal was  raised  without  great  difficulty,  and  be- 
cause the  project  had  far-seeing  supporters,  that 
there  was  any  lack  of  "croakers."  On  the  con- 
trary, the  prejudice  against  the  line  as  a  "mad 
scheme"  ran  perhaps  even  higher  than  in  the  case 
of  most  great  and  novel  undertakings.  The 
critics  were  many,  and  with  our  present  knowl- 
edge it  is  difficult  to  recognize  that  many  of  the 
assertions  and  suggestions  emanated  from  men 
of  science  as  well  as  from  eminent  engineers  and 
sailors,  who,  we  should  say  nowadays,  ought  to 
have  known  better.  For  example,  the  late  Prof. 
Sir  G.  B.  Airy,  F.R.S.  (Astronomer  Royal),  an- 
nounced to  the  world :  ( I )  that  "it  was  a  mathe- 
matical impossibility  to  submerge  a  cable  in 
safety  at  so  great  a  depth";  and  (2)  that  "if  it 
were  possible,  no  signals  could  be  transmitted 
through  so  great  a  length." 

From  the  very  outset  of  the  project  the  en- 
gineer-in-chief (as  soon  as  appointed)  had  to 
deal  with  wild  and  undeveloped  criticisms  and 


44       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

suggestions,  partly  from  "inventors,"  who  desired 
to  reap  personal  benefit  by  the  scheme,  and  ama- 
teurs in  the  art  generally,  all  of  which  appear 
singularly  ludicrous  nowadays. 

The  fallacy  most  frequently  introduced  was, 
perhaps,  that  the  cable  would  be  suspended  in  the 
water  at  a  certain  depth.  Naturally  the  pressure 
increases  with  the  depth  on  all  sides  of  a  cable 
(or  anything  else)  in  its  descent  through  the  sea, 
but,  as  practically  everything  on  earth  is  more 
compressible  than  water,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
iron  wire,  yarn,  gutta-percha,  and  copper  con- 
ductor, forming  the  cable,  must  be  more  and 
more  compressed  as  they  descend.  Thus  the 
cable  constantly  increases  its  density,  or  specific 
gravity,  in  going  down,  while  the  equal  bulk  of 
the  water  surrounding  it  continues  to  have,  prac- 
tically speaking,  very  nearly  the  same  specific 
gravity  as  at  the  surface.  Without  this  valuable 
property  of  water,  the  hydraulic  press  would  not 
exist. 

The  strange  blunder  here  described  was  par- 
ticipated in  by  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
naval  men.  As  an  instance,  even  at  a  compara- 
tively recent  period,  Captain  Marryat,  R.N.,  the 
famous  nautical  author,  writes  of  the  sea :  "What 
a  mine  of  wealth  must  lie  buried  in  its  sands. 
What  riches  lie  entangled  among  its  rocks,  or 
remain  suspended  in  its  unfathomable  gulf, 
where  the  compressed  fluid  is  equal  in  gravity  to 
that  which  it  encircles."* 

To  obviate  this  non-existent  difficulty,  it  was 
gravely  proposed  to  festoon  the  cable  across,  at 
a    given    maximum    depth   between   buoys    and 

*  The  Pirate,  p.  2. 


EVOLUTION  OF  ATLANTIC  TELEGRAPHY  45 

floats,  or  even  parachutes — at  which  ships  might 
call,  hook  on,  and  talk  telegraphically  to  shore ! 

Others  again  proposed  to  apply  gummed  cot- 
ton to  the  outside  of  the  cable  in  connection  with 
the  above  burying  system.  The  idea  was  that 
the  gum  (or  glue)  would  gradually  dissolve  and 
so  let  the  cable  down  "quietly"  ! 

As  an  example  of  the  crude  notions  prevailing 
in  the  mind  of  one  gentleman  with  a  proposed  in- 
vention, to  whom  was  shown  an  inch  specimen  of 
the  cable,  he  remarked :  "Now  I  understand  how 
you  stow  it  away  on  board.  You  cut  it  up  into 
bits  beforehand,  and  then  join  up  the  pieces  as 
you  lay." 

Some  again  absolutely  went  so  far  as  to  take 
out  patents  for  converting  the  laying  vessel  into 
a  huge  factory,  with  a  view  to  making  the  cable 
on  board  in  one  continuous  length,  and  submer- 
ging it  during  the  process ! 

Finally,  one  naval  expert  assured  the  company 
that  "no  other  machinery  for  paying  out  was 
necessary  than  a  handspike  to  stop  the  egress  of 
the  cable." 


46       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 


CHAPTER    II 

THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  THE  LINE 

Design  and  Construction — Ships — Testing,  Shipment, 
and  Stowage — Paying-out  Machinery — Staff — Prep- 
arations for  the  Expedition. 

The  construction  of  the  cable  was  taken  in 
hand  the  following  February  (1857). 

The  distance  f  rom  Valentia,  on  the  western  Irish 
coast,  to  Trinity  Bay,  Newfoundland — the  two 
landing-points  selected* — being  1,640  nautical 
miles,  it  was  estimated  that  a  length  of  2,500 
N.M.f  would  be  sufficient  to  meet  all  require- 
ments. This  would  provide  sufficient  margin  for 
a  considerable  amount  of  "slack"  cable  for  accom- 
modating the  irregularities  of  the  bottom.  The 
Gutta-Percha  Company  of  London  were  en- 
trusted with  the  manufacture  of  the  "core,"  con- 
sisting of  a  strand  of  seven  No.  22  B.W.G.  copper 
wires  (total  diameter  No.  14  gage)  weighing 
107  pounds  per  N.M.  insulated,  with  three  coat- 
ings of  gutta-percha  (to  ^-inch  diameter) 
weighing  261  pounds  per  N.M.,  the  conductor 
being,  in  fact,  covered  to  No.  00  B.W.G. 

This  formed  a  far  heavier  core  than  had  been 
previously  adopted,  and  on  this  account  the  diffi- 
culties of  manufacture  were  proportionately  in- 

*Valentia  is  the  Irish  terminus  of  several  of  the  present 
Atlantic  lines. 

fN.M. — Nautical  miles. 


THE   MANUFACTURE   OF  THE   LINE  47 

creased.  The  enormous  pressure  of  the  ocean  at 
such  depths  involved  also  a  much  severer  test  for 
the  core. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  we  now  know,  the  con- 
ductor— and  consequently  also  the  insulator — 
should  have  been  still  larger,  to  a  material  degree. 
The  engineer  of  the  line  strongly  urged  a  con- 
ductor weighing  392  pounds  per  N.M.,  with  the 
same  weight  for  the  insulator  ;*  but  his  fellow 
projectors  (the  business  element  of  the  underta- 
king) were  all  for  getting  the  work  done,  while 
the  weather  permitted,  that  year ;  and  they  were 
perhaps  overquick  to  recognize  the  difference  in 
the  capital  required.  Moreover,  they  were  here 
supported  technically  by  the  views  of  the  re- 
sponsible electrician,  as  well  as  by  such  high 
authorities  as  Michael  Faraday  and  Morse.  The 
latter  reported  that  "large  coated  wires  used  be- 
neath the  water  or  the  earth  are  worse  conduct- 
ors— so  far  as  velocity  of  transmission  is  con- 
cerned— than  small  ones ;  and,  therefore,  are  not 
so  well  suited  as  small  ones  for  the  purposes  of 
submarine  transmission  of  telegraphic  signals.'' 
Faraday  had  stated :  "The  larger  the  wire,  the 
more  electricity  was  required  to  charge  it ;  and 
the  greater  was  the  retardation  of  that  electric 
impulse  which  should  be  occupied  in  sending  that 
charge  forward."! 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  although  Faraday  laid 
the  foundations  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  elec- 
trical engineering  of  to-day,  his  views  in  this  in- 
stance did  not  prove  to  be  correct.     The  theoret- 

*  Though  such  a  core  would  have  been  a  great  novelty 
at  the  time,  it  closely  approximates  to  present-day  practise. 
|  Mins.  Proc.  Inst.  C.  E.,  vol.  xvi. 


48   THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

ical  resemblance  of  a  cable  to  a  Ley  den  jar — in 
reference  to  the  effect  of  charging  either — seems 
to  have  been  prominently  in  mind,  without  proper 
regard  to  the  resistance  offered  by  the  wire  to  the 
electric  current — a  resistance  which  becomes  less 
the  greater  the  bulk  of  the  wire.  Besides  the 
engineer  being  overridden  in  this  matter,  the 
word  of  the  electrical  adviser  on  the  Board  ( Pro- 
fessor Thomson)  regarding  the  carrying  capacity 
or  working  speed  that  would  be  obtained  with 
such  a  core  as  that  decided  on — in  view  of  the 
length  involved — was  also  unavailing. 

While  no  one  can  fail  to  appreciate  the  busi- 
nesslike manner  in  which  this  undertaking  was 
pushed  through  from  the  moment  of  inception — 
comparing  only  too  favorably  with  some  experi- 
ences of  to-day — it  was,  without  doubt,  a  vast 
pity  that  more  time  was  not  devoted  to  a  fuller 
consideration  of  some  of  the  problems,  such  as 
that  involved  over  the  dimensions  of  the  con- 
ductor and  insulator.  No  serious  fault  could, 
however,  be  detected  with  its  actual  manufac- 
ture, though  the  methods  of  those  days  were 
primitive  as  compared  with  present  practise,  and 
a  system  of  efficient  electrical  testing  altogether 
wanting. 

After  various  experiments  had  been  made  with 
sample  lengths  of  different  iron  wires  made  up 
into  cable,  the  contract  for  the  outer  sheathings 
was,  in  order  to  get  through  the  work  quickly, 
divided  equally  between  Messrs.  Glass,  Elliot  & 
Co.,  of  Greenwich,  and  Messrs.  R.  S.  Newall  & 
Co.,  of  Birkenhead — both  originally  pit-rope 
makers. 

The  insulated  core  was  first  surrounded  with 


THE   MANUFACTURE    OF   THE   LINE 


49 


a  serving  of  hemp  saturated  with  a  mixture  of 
tar,  pitch,  linseed-oil,  and  wax;  and  then 
sheathed  spirally  with  an  armor  of  eighteen 
strands,  each  containing  seven  iron  wires  of  No. 
22  B.W.G.,  the  completed  strand  being  No.  14 
gage  in  diameter. 

The  cable    (Fig.  8)    was  then  finally   drawn 
through  another  mixture  of  tar.      Its  weight  in 


Fig.  5. — Manufacture  of  the  Core. 

air  was  1  ton  per  N.M.,  and  in  water  only  13.4 
hundredweight,  bearing  a  strain  of  3  tons  5  hun- 
dredweight before  breaking — equivalent  to  nearly 
five  miles  of  its  weight  in  water. 

For  each  end  approaching  the  shore,  the 
sheathing  (see  Fig.  9)  consisted  of  twelve  wires 
of  No.  o  gauge,  making  a  total  weight  of  about 
nine  tons  to  the  mile.  This  type  was  adopted 
for  the  first  ten  miles  from  the  Irish  coast,  and 
for  fifteen  miles  from  the  landing  at  Newfound- 
4 


50       THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

land,  at  both  of  which  localities  rocks  had  been 
found  to  abound  plentifully — so  much  so  that 
the  armor  was  insufficient,  and  present  practise 
provides  double  the  weight  under  similar  condi- 
tions. 

Only  four  months  was  allowed  for  the  manu- 
facture of  this  2,500  miles  of  cable,  which  had  to 


Fig.  6. — Serving  the  Core  with  Hemp-Yarn. 

be  delivered  in  June  of  that  year  (1857).  This 
involved  the  preparation  and  drawing  of  20,500 
miles  of  copper  wire  (providing  for  the  lay) 
and  stranding  into  the  2,500  miles  of  conductor. 
For  the  insulation  nearly  300  tons  of  gutta-percha 
required  to  be  prepared,  and  the  three  separate 
layers  of  gutta-percha  required  to  be  applied  to 
the  wire,  subsequently  followed  by  the  spiral  serv- 
ing of  yarn.  Finally — and  with  a  due  allowance 
for  lay — 367,500  miles  of  wire  had  to  be  drawn, 
from  1,687  tons  °f  charcoal  iron,  and  laid  up  into 


52       THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

50,000  miles  of  strand  for  the  outer  sheathing. 
The  entire  length  of  copper  and  iron  wire  em- 
ployed was,  therefore,  340,500  miles — enough  to 
engirdle  the  earth  thirteen  times,  and  consider- 


Fig.  8.— The  Deep  Sea  Cable. 

ably  more  than  enough  to  extend  from  the  earth 
to  the  moon.  The  work  was  enormously  in- 
creased, of  course,  on  account  of  the  sheath- 
ing  being  composed    of    a   number   of   strands 


Fig.  9.— The  Shore-End  Cable. 

instead  of  several  single  wires.  While  having 
certain  mechanical  advantages  at  the  outset,  this 
stranded  sheathing  is  not  a  durable  type  of  cable 
— besides  being  somewhat  costly — and  is  never 
adopted  nowadays.      The  contract  price  for  the 


THE   MANUFACTURE   OF  THE   LINE  S3 

entire  cable  was  £225,000,  the  core  costing  £40 
and  the  armor  £50  per  mile.* 

As  fast  as  the.  cable  was  made  at  the  respective 
factories,  it  was  coiled  into  iron  tanks  ready  for 
shipment. 

Ships  and  Paying-out  Machinery. — The  race 
against  time — resulting  from  an  unfortunate  ar- 
rangement with  American  interests — was  truly 
appalling;  for,  besides  the  manufacture  of  the 
line  itself,  ships  had  to  be  selected  and  prepared 
for  receiving  the  cable,  and  machinery  for  paying 
out  the  line  had  to  be  designed  and  made.  So 
far  as  the  manufacture  went,  the  machinery  for 
that  was  already  in  existence,  in  view  of  the 
cables  that  had  previously  been  laid — apart  from 
the  fact  that  the  sheathing  machinery  was  prac- 
tically the  same  as  had  already  been  used  for 
making  ropes  with.  But  this  being  the  first  ocean 
line,  special  apparatus  had  to  be  worked  out  for 
submerging  a  cable  satisfactorily  in  deep  water. 
So  far  as  ships  were  concerned,  the  British  and 
United  States  Governments  had  already  ex- 
pressed willingness  to  furnish  these.  The  former 
undertaking  took  shape  by  the  Admiralty  plac- 
ing H.M.S.  Agamemnon  (a  screw-propelled 
line-of-battle  ship  and  one  of  the  finest  in  the 
British  navy)  at  the  company's  disposal  for  the 
expedition.  She  had  been  Admiral  Lyons's  flag- 
ship during  the  bombardment  of  Sebastopol  a 
couple  of  years  before;  but,  in  her  coming  mis- 

*  An  Atlantic  cable  of  the  present  day  runs  into  about 
half  a  million  sterling.  Gutta-percha  was,  in  those  days, 
less  scarce;  on  the  other  hand,  its  manufacture  was  more 
of  a  novelty,  and  there  was  comparatively  little  competition 
in  cable-making. 


54       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

sion,  was  to  do  more  to  bring  about  the  reign  of 
peace — by  drawing  together  in  closer  commune 
the  several  nations  of  the  earth — than  any  man- 
of-war  was  ever  called  to  do,  before  or  after. 
With  a  somewhat  peculiar  construction,  she  was 


mtmm 

Fig.  10. — Coiling  the  Finished  Cable  into  the  Factory  Tanks. 

admirably  adapted  for  her  work.  Her  engines 
were  quite  near  the  stern,  while  amidships  she 
had  a  magnificent  hold,  forty-five  feet  square  and 
about  twenty  feet  deep.  In  this  capacious  recep- 
tacle nearly  half  the  cable  was  stowed  from  the 
works  at  Greenwich.  The  American  Govern- 
ment sent  over  the  largest  and  finest  ship  of  their 
navy,  the  U.S.  frigate  Niagara  (Fig.  n),  a 
screw-corvette  of  5,200  tons.  As  a  consort,  the 
U.S.  paddle  frigate  Susquehanna  was  also  de- 


V-- 


\  -\ 


i  __     fe- 


56     THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

tailed  for  the  expedition,  while  H.M.S.  Leopard 
and  H.M.  sounding-vessel  Cyclops  were  sim- 
ilarly provided  by  the  British  Government.  The 
latter  was  to  precede  the  fleet — nicknamed  the 
Wire  Squadron — to  show  the  way. 

The  paying-out  apparatus  for  the  two  laying 
vessels  H.M.S.  Agamemnon  and  U.S.N.S.  Ni- 
agara had  to  be  somewhat  hurriedly  put  to- 
gether; consequently  not  as  much  attention  was 
paid  to  its  design  as  the  novelty  of  the  underta- 
king really  demanded.  The  previous,  and  some- 
what primitive,  gear  hitherto  used  had  proved  to 
possess  too  little  strength,  the  cable — when  being 
laid  in  anything  but  quite  shallow  water — having 
more  than  once  obtained  the  mastery,  through 
meeting  insufficient  restraining  force.  In  the 
new  machine  (Fig.  12)  there  was  certainly  no 
lack  of  holding-back  power.  It  erred,  indeed, 
the  other  way,  being  so  heavy  and  powerful  that 
it  was  liable  to  break  the  cable  under  any  ma- 
terial strain.  The  degree  of  retardation  was 
regulated  by  a  hand-wheel  actuating  a  frame- 
clutch  surrounding  the  outside  of  a  brake-wheel. 
The  details  of  this  machine  were  worked  out  by 
Messrs.  C.  de  Bergue  &  Co.,  the  manufacturers. 
The  engineer-in-chief  also  furnished  external 
guards  to  the  propelling  screws  of  each  laying 
vessel  to  prevent  a  foul  with  the  cable  in  the  case 
of  going  "astern."  This  cage  was  nicknamed  a 
"crinoline"  (then  in  fashion  with  ladies),  which, 
indeed,  it  somewhat  resembled.  The  above 
screw-guard  may  be  seen  in  several  of  the  illus- 
trations of  either  ships  farther  on.  Were  it  not 
for  the  necessity  of  sounding  operations,  it  would 
be  applied  to  all  telegraph-ships  to-day. 


THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  THE   LINE  57 

Preparations  for  Starting. — By  the  third  week 
in  July  (within  the  course  of  as  many  weeks)  the 
great  ships  had  absorbed  all  their  precious  cargo 
— the  Agamemnon  in  the  Thames  and  the 
Niagara  in  the  Mersey.  The  process  of  coiling 
the  cable  on  board  the  Agamemnon  is  illustrated 
in  Fig.  13. 

Staff. — For  such  an  undertaking  the  staff  had, 
of  course,  to  be  considerable.  Besides  the  en- 
gineer-in-chief (Mr.  Bright),  the  engineering 
department  was  composed  as  follows  :  Mr.  (after- 


Fig.  12.— The  Paying-out  Machine,  1857. 

ward  Sir  Samuel)  Canning,  formerly  a  railway 
engineer,  who  had  laid  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 
and  other  cables ;  Mr.  William  Henry  Wood- 
house,  who  had  laid  some  of  the  cables  in  the 
Mediterranean ;  Mr.  F.  C.  Webb,  with  much  ex- 
perience in  early  cable  work;  and,  finally,  Mr. 
Henry  Clifford,  a  mechanical  engineer,  destined 
to  be  responsibly  associated  with  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  cables  since  laid. 

Besides  Mr.  Whitehouse  (whose  health,  how- 
ever, did  not  permit  him  to  accompany  the  expe- 
dition) there  were  on  the  electrical  staff  Mr.  C. 
V.  de  Sauty,  Mr.  J.  C.  Laws,  Mr.  F.  Lambert, 
Mr.  H.  A.  C.  Saunders,  Mr.  Benjamin  Smith, 
Mr.  Richard  Collett,  and  Mr.  Charles  Gerhardi, 
all  of  whom  were  afterward  prominently  con- 
nected with  subsequent  submarine  cable  under- 


THE   MANUFACTURE    OF   THE   LINE  59 

takings.  Their  respective  energies  were  divided 
up  between  the  two  laying  ships. *  The  expedi- 
tion was  to  be  further  strengthened  by  a  repre- 
sentative of  The  Times,  as  well  as  of  the  Daily 
News  and  New  York  Herald! 

On  the  vessels  being  fully  loaded  ready  for  the 
start,  "send-off"  festivities  occurred,  in  which  all 
classes  of  those  engaged  on  the  work  took  part. 
The  Times  recounted  the  function  on  board  the 
Agamemnon  as  follows : 

The  three  central  tables  were  occupied  by  the  crew  of 
the  Agamemnon,  a  fine,  active  body  of  men,  who  paid  the 
greatest  attention  to  the  speeches,  and  drank  all  the 
toasts  with  an  admirable  punctuality — at  least,  so  long 
as  their  three  pints  of  beer  per  man  lasted.  But  we 
regret  to  add  that  with  the  heat  of  the  day  and  the  en- 
thusiasm of  Jack  in  the  cause  of  science,  the  mugs  were 
all  empty  long  before  the  chairman's  list  of  toasts  had 
been  gone  through.  Next  in  interest  to  the  sailors  were 
the  workmen  and  their  wives  and  babies,  all  being  per- 
mitted to  assist.  The  latter,  it  is  true,  sometimes  squalled 
at  an  affecting  peroration,  but  that  rather  improved  the 
effect  than  otherwise,  and  the  presence  of  their  little  ones 
only  marked  the  genuine  good  feeling  of  the  employers, 
who  had  thus  invited  not  only  their  workmen,  but  their 
workmen's  families  to  the  feast.  It  was  a  momentary 
return  to  the  old  patriarchal  times. 

This  function  having  come  to  an  end,  the 
Agamemnon  set  out  for  Sheerness.  When  leav- 
ing her  moorings,  opposite  Glass  &  Elliot's 
works,  the  scene  was  one  of  considerable  inter- 

*  Professor  Morse  (who  held  a  sort  of  watching  brief  for 
the  United  States  Government)  also  took  passage,  but  had  to 
retire  to  his  berth  as  soon  as  the  elements  asserted  them- 
selves, and  was  scarcely  visible  again  till  all  was  over. 


60       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

est.  It  is  recorded  that  many  thousands  of  per- 
sons thronged  the  riverside  as  far  as  Greenwich 
Hospital.  In  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
the  factory  a  salute  was  fired  as  the  proud  vessel 
moved  away,  and  a  deafening  cheer  was  raised 
by  the  assembled  crowds.  The  crew  of  H.M.S. 
Agamemnon  manned  the  gunwales,  and  returned 
the  cheer  with  lusty  lungs,  while  from  the  stern 
gallery,  ladies  waved  their  handkerchiefs,  and 
savants  forgot  for  a  while  the  mysteries  of  elec- 
tricity and  submarine-cable  work,  as  they  re- 
turned the  hearty  cheers  which  reached  them 
from  the  shore. 

Similar  proceedings  took  place  on  board  the 
Niagara,  and  the  two  ships  met  at  Queenstown, 
County  Cork,  on  July  30,  1857.  They  were 
moored  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  apart,  and 
a  piece  of  cable  run  between  the  two  to  enable 
the  entire  length  of  line  (2,500  N.M.)  to  be 
tested  and  worked  through.  The  result  was  all 
that  could  be  desired,  and  the  Wire  Squadron 
set  sail  for  the  rendezvous  at  Valentia  Bay  on 
Monday,  August  3d. 

Besides  the  vessels  already  named,  there  were 
H.M.  tender  Advice  and  the  steam-tug  Willing 
Mind  to  assist  in  landing  the  cable  at  Valentia, 
as  well  as  the  U.S.  screw-steamer  Arctic  and  the 
paddle-steamer  Victoria  (Newfoundland  Tele- 
graph Company)  on  duty  in  Trinity  Bay,  New- 
foundland, to  await  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  and 
assist  in  landing  the  cable  at  that  end. 

On  arrival  in  harbor  the  following  day,  the 
ships  were  hospitably  welcomed  by  his  Excel- 
lency the  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland  (the  Earl 
of   Carlisle),   who  had  journeyed  from   Dublin 


THE   FIRST  START  61 

Castle  for  the  purpose.  A  dejeuner  banquet  was 
given  by  the  Knight  of  Kerry  (Sir  Peter  Fitz- 
gerald), the  lord  of  the  manor  for  many  miles 
round,  and  this  little  corner  of  Ireland — "the 
next  parish  to  America" — was  quite  en  fete  for 
the  occasion. 


CHAPTER   III 
THE   FIRST   START 

Landing  the   End — "  Godspeed  " — A  Bad  Beginning — ■ 
Return  Home. 

Landing  the  Cable  at  Valentia,  Ireland. — The 
following  day  was  occupied  in  landing  the  mas- 
sive shore  end,  which — weighing  nearly  ten  tons 
to  the  mile,  as  already  described — was  calculated 
to  withstand  damage  from  any  anchorage  in  the 
bay,  besides  being  proof  against  disturbance  and 
damage  from  surf  or  currents.  The  landing- 
place  which  had  been  finally  selected  was  a  little 
cove  known  as  Ballycarberry,  about  three  miles 
from  Cahirciveen,  in  Valentia  harbor  (Fig.  14). 
The  two  small  assistant  steamers — Willing  Mind, 
a  tug  with  a  zeal  worthy  of  her  name,  and  Ad- 
vice, ready  not  merely  with  advice  but  most  lusty 
help — with  several  other  launches  and  boats, 
were  employed  in  the  operation,  which  was  thus 
described  in  one  of  the  many  newspaper  reports : 

"Valentia  Bay  was  studded  with  innumerable 
small  craft  decked  with  the  gayest  bunting. 
Small  boats  flitted  hither  and  thither,  their  occu- 


62       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

pants  cheering  enthusiastically  as  the  work  suc- 
cessfully progressed.  The  cable-boats  were  man- 
aged by  the  sailors  of  the  Niagara  and  the 
Susquehanna.  It  was  a  well-designed  compli- 
ment, and  indicative  of  the  future  fraternization 
of  the  nations,  that  the  shore  rope  was  arranged 
to  be  presented  on  the  English  side  of  the  Atlantic 
to  the  representative  of  the  Queen  by  the  officers 
and  men  of  the  United  States  navy,  and  that  on 
the  American  side  the  British  officers  and  sailors 
should  make  a  similar  presentation  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  great  republic. 

"From  the  mainland  the  operations  were 
watched  with  intense  interest.  For  several  hours 
the  Lord-Lieutenant  stood  on  the  beach,  sur- 
rounded by  his  staff  and  the  directors  of  the  rail- 
way and  telegraph  companies,  waiting  the  arrival 
of  the  cable.  When  at  length  the  American  sail- 
ors jumped  through  the  surge  with  the  hawser  to 
which  it  was  attached,  his  Excellency  was  among 
the  first  to  lay  hold  of  it  and  pull  it  lustily  to  the 
shore.  Indeed,  every  one  present  seemed  desir- 
ous of  having  a  hand  in  the  great  work." 

At  half  past  seven  that  evening  (August  5, 
1857)  the  cable  was  hauled  on  shore  at  Ballycar- 
berry  Strand,  and  formal  presentation  was  made 
of  it  by  the  officer  in  command  of  the  Niagara  to 
the  Lord-Lieutenant,  his  Excellency  expressing  a 
hope  that  the  work  so  well  begun  would  be  car- 
ried to  a  satisfactory  completion.  The  vicar  of 
the  parish  then  offered  a  prayer  for  the  success  of 
the  undertaking. 

The  work  connected  with  the  landing  of  the 
shore  end  was  not  actually  completed  till  sunset ; 
so,  as  it  was  too  late  then  to  set  out  and  start 


64       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

cable-laying,  the  ships  remained  at  anchor  in  the 
bay  till  daybreak.  That  night  there  was  a  grand 
ball  at  the  little  village  of  Kingstown,  and  the 
day  dawn  caught  the  merrymakers  still  engaged 
in  their  festivities. 

Laying  the  First  Ocean  Cable,  1857. — Owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  cable  had  had  to  be  divided 
between  two  ships  it  was  obvious  that  a  mid- 
ocean  splice  between  the  two  lengths  was  in- 
volved. The  engineer-in-chief  (Mr.  Bright) 
was  anxious  both  ships  should  start  laying  toward 
their  respective  shores  from  mid-ocean,  as  by 
that  plan  favorable  weather  for  the  splice  could 
be  waited  for,  besides  halving  the  time  occupied 
in  laying  the  line,  thereby  reducing  chances  of 
bad-weather  experience  and  getting  over  the  most 
difficult  (deep-water)  part  of  the  work  first. 

The  electricians,  however,  made  much  of  the 
importance  of  being  in  continuous  communica- 
tion with  shore  during  laying  operations;  and 
this  view  appealed  to  the  Board — partly,  no 
doubt,  on  account  of  the  novelty  of  being  able 
from  headquarters  to  speak  to  a  ship  as  she  pro- 
ceeded across  the  Atlantic.  It  had,  therefore, 
been  arranged  for  the  laying  of  the  cable  to  be 
started  by  the  Niagara  from  the  Irish  coast,  the 
Agamemnon  laying  the  remaining  half  from 
mid-ocean. 

The  ships  got  under  weigh  at  an  early  hour  on 
the  morning  following  the  landing  of  the  shore 
end.  Paying  out  commenced  from  the  Niag- 
ara's forepart ;  and  as  the  distance  from  there  to 
the  stern  was  considerable,  a  number  of  men 
were  stationed  at  intervals,  like  sentries,  to  see 
that  every  foot  of  the  line  reached  its  destination 


THE   FIRST  START  65 

in  safety.  The  machinery  did  not  seem  at  first 
to  take  kindly  to  its  work,  giving  vent  to  many 
ominous  groans.  After  five  miles  had  been  dis- 
gorged, the  line  caught  in  some  of  the  apparatus 
and  parted.  The  good  ship  at  once  put  back  and 
the  cable  was  underrun  by  the  Willing  Mind, 
with  boats,  the  whole  distance  from  the  shore — 
a  tedious  and  hard  task,  as' may  be  imagined.  At 
length  the  end  was  lifted  out  of  the  water  and 
spliced  to  the  coil  on  board ;  and  as  the  bight  of 
the  cable  dropped  safely  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
the  mighty  ship  steamed  ahead  once  more. 

At  first  she  moved  very  slowly,  not  more  than 
two  miles  an  hour,  to  avoid  the  danger  of  another 
accident,  but  the  feeling  that  they  were  at  last 
away  was  in  itself  a  relief.  The  ships  were  all 
in  sight,  and  so  near  that  they  could  hear  each 
other's  bells.  The  Niagara,  as  if  knowing  she 
was  bound  for  the  land  out  of  whose  forests  she 
came,  bowed  her  head  proudly  to  the  waves. 

"Slowly  passed  the  hours  of  that  day,"  in  Mr. 
Henry  Field's  words,  "but  all  went  well,  and  the 
ships  were  moving  out  into  the  broad  Atlantic. 
At  length  the  sun  went  down  in  the  west,  and 
stars  came  out  on  the  face  of  the  deep.  But  no 
man  slept.  A  thousand  eyes  were  watching  a 
great  experiment,  including  those  who  had  a  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  issue. 

"All  through  that  night,  and  through  the 
anxious  days  and  nights  that  followed,  there  was 
a  feeling  in  the  heart  of  every  soul  on  board,  as 
if  some  dear  friend  were  at  the  turning-point  of 
death,  and  they  were  watching  beside  him. 
There  was  a  strange,  unnatural  silence  in  the 
ship.  Men  paced  the  deck  with  soft  and  mufned 
5 


66       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

tread,  speaking  only  in  whispers,  as  if  a  loud  or 
heavy  footfall  might  snap  the  vital  cord.  So 
much  had  they  grown  to  feel  for  the  enterprise, 
that  the  cable  seemed  to  them  like  a  human 
creature,  on  whose  fate  they  themselves  hung,  as 
if  it  were  to  decide  their  own  destiny. 

"There  are  some  who  will  never  forget  that 
first  night  at  sea.  Perhaps  the  reaction  from  the 
excitement  on  shore  made  the  impression  the 
deeper.  There  are  moments  in  life  when  every- 
thing comes  back  to  us.  What  memories 
cropped  up  in  those  long  night  hours !  How 
many  on  board  that  ship,  as  they  stood  on  the 
deck  and  watched  that  mysterious  cord  disap- 
pearing in  the  darkness,  thought  of  homes  be- 
yond the  sea,  of  absent  ones,  of  the  distant  and  of 
the  dead. 

"But  no  musings  turned  them  from  the  work 
in  hand.  There  were  vigilant  eyes  on  deck — ■ 
Mr.  Bright,  the  engineer-in-chief,  was  there; 
also,  in  turn,  Mr.  Woodhouse  and  Mr.  Canning, 
his  chief  assistants.  .  .  .  The  paying-out  ma- 
chinery did  its  work,  and  though  it  made  a  con- 
stant rumble  in  the  ship,  that  dull,  heavy  sound 
was  music  in  their  ears,  as  it  told  them  that  all 
was  well.  If  one  should  drop  asleep,  and  wake 
up  at  night,  he  had  only  to  hear  the  sound  of  'the 
old  coffee-mill/  and,  his  fears  being  relieved,  he 
would  go  to  sleep  again." 

The  next  was  a  day  of  beautiful  weather.  The 
ships  were  getting  farther  away  from  land,  and 
began  to  steam  ahead  at  the  rate  of  four  and  five 
knots.  The  cable  was  paid  out  at  a  speed  a  little 
faster  than  the  ship,  to  allow  for  inequalities  of 
surface  on  the  bottom  of  the  sea.     While  it  was 


THE  FIRST  START  67 

thus  going  overboard,  communication  was  kept 
up  constantly  with  the  land,  partly  by  what  are 
known  as  "continuity  signals" — i.  e.,  electrical 
signals  at  definite  time  intervals  from  ship  to 
shore,  as  a  test  of  the  continuity  of  the  line. 

To  quote  Mr.  Field  again :  "Every  moment  the 
current  was  passing  between  ship  and  shore.  The 
communication  was  as  perfect  as  between  Liver- 
pool and  London,  or  Boston  and  New  York.  Not 
only  did  the  electricians  telegraph  back  to  Valen- 
tia  the  progress  they  were  making,  but  the 
officers  on  board  sent  messages  to  their  friends  in 
America  to  go  out  by  the  steamers  from  Liver- 
pool. The  heavens  seemed  to  smile  on  them  that 
day.  The  coils  came  up  from  below  the  deck 
without  a  kink,  and,  unwinding  themselves  easily, 
passed  over  the  stern  into  the  sea. 

"All  Sunday  (9th  inst.)  the  same  favoring 
fortune  continued ;  and  when  the  officers  who 
could  be  spared  from  the  deck  met  in  the  cabin, 
and  Captain  Hudson  read  the  service,  it  was  with 
subdued  voices  and  grateful  hearts  that  they  re- 
sponded to  the  prayers  to  'Him  who  spread- 
eth  out  the  heavens  and  ruleth  the  raging  of 
the  sea.' 

"On  Monday  (10th)  they  were  over  two  hun- 
dred miles  at  sea.  They  had  got  far  beyond  the 
shallow  waters  off  the  coast.  They  had  passed 
over  the  submarine  mountain  that  figures  on  the 
charts  of  Dayman  and  Berryman,  and  where  Mr. 
Bright's  log  gives  a  descent  from  550  to  1,750 
fathoms  within  eight  miles.  Then  they  came  to 
the  deeper  waters  of  the  Atlantic  where  the  cable 
sank  to  the  awful  depths  of  2,000  fathoms.  Still 
the  iron  cord  buried  itself  in  the  waves,  and  every 


68       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

instant  the  flash  of  light  in  the  darkened  telegraph 
room  told  of  the  passage  of  the  electric  current. 

"Everything  went  well  till  3.45  p.m.  on  the 
fourth  day  out  (Tuesday,  August  nth),  when  the 
cable  snapped,  after  380  miles  had  been  laid,  ow- 
ing to  mismanagement  on  the  part  of  the  mechanic 
at  the  brakes." 

Thus  the  familiar  thin  line  which  had  been 
streaming  out  from  the  Niagara  for  six  days  was 
no  longer  to  be  seen  by  the  accompanying  vessels. 

One  who  was  present  wrote : 

"The  unbidden  tear  started  to  many  a  manly 
eye.  The  interest  taken  in  the  enterprise  by 
officers  and  men  alike  exceeded  anything  ever 
seen,  and  there  is  no  wonder  that  there  should 
have  been  so  much  emotion  on  the  occasion  of  the 
accident." 

The  following  report  from  Bright  gives  the  de- 
tails of  the  expedition  up  to  the  time  of  this  re- 
grettable occurrence : 

Report  to  the  Directors  or  the  Atlantic  Tele- 
graph Company,  August,  1857 

After  leaving  Valentia  on  the  evening  of  the  7th  inst, 
the  paying  out  of  the  cable  from  the  Niagara  progressed 
most  satisfactorily  until  immediately  before  the  mishap. 

At  the  junction  between  the  shore  and  the  smaller 
cable,  about  eight  miles  from  the  starting-point,  it  was 
necessary  to  stop  to  renew  the  splice.  This  was  success- 
fully effected,  and  the  end  of  the  heavier  cable  lowered  by 
a  hawser  until  it  reached  the  bottom,  two  buoys  being 
attached  at  a  short  distance  apart  to  mark  the  place  of 
union. 

By  noon  of  the  8th  we  had  paid  out  40  miles  of 
cable,  including  the  heavy  shore  end.  Our  exact  position 
at  the  time  was  in  lat.  500  59/  36"  N.,  long.  n°  19'  15" 


THE   FIRST  START  69 

W.,  and  the  depth  of  the  water  according  to  the  soundings 
taken  by  the  Cyclops — whose  course  we  nearly  followed — 
ninety  fathoms.  Up  to  4  p.  m.  on  that  day  the  egress  of 
the  cable  had  been  regulated  by  the  power  necessary  to 
keep  the  machinery  in  motion  at  a  slightly  higher  rate 
than  that  of  the  ship;  but  as  the  water  deepened  it  was 
necessary  to  place  some  further  restraint  upon  the  cable  by 
applying  pressure  to  the  friction-drums  in  connection  with 
the  paying-out  sheaves.  By  midnight  85  miles  had 
been  safely  laid,  the  depth  of  the  water  being  then  a 
little  more  than  200  fathoms. 

At  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  we  had 
exhausted  the  deck  coil  in  the  after  part  of  the  ship,  hav- 
ing paid  out  120  miles.  The  change  to  the  coil  between 
decks  forward  was  safely  made.  By  noon  we  had  laid  136 
miles  of  cable,  the  Niagara  having  reached  lat.  520,  n'  40" 
N.,  long.  130  o'  20"  W.,  and  the  depth  of  the  water  having 
increased  to  410  fathoms.  In  the  evening  the  speed  of  the 
vessel  was  raised  to  five  knots.  I  had  previously  kept 
down  the  rate  at  from  three  to  four  knots  for  the  small 
cable,  and  two  for  the  heavy  end  next  the  shore,  wishing 
to  get  the  men  and  machinery  well  at  work  prior  to  attain- 
ing the  speed  which  I  had  intended  making.  By  midnight 
189  miles  of  cable  had  been  laid. 

At  four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  10th  the  depth 
began  to  increase  rapidly  from  550  to  1,750  fathoms  in  a 
distance  of  eight  miles.  Up  to  this  time  a  strain  of  7  cwt. 
sufficed  to  keep  the  rate  of  the  cable  near  enough  to  that 
of  the  ship;  but  as  the  water  deepened  the  proportionate 
speed  of  the  cable  advanced,  and  it  was  necessary  to  aug- 
ment the  pressure  by  degrees  until  at  a  depth  of  1,700 
fathoms  the  indicator  showed  a  strain  of  15  cwt.,  while 
the  cable  and  the  ship  were  running  five  and  a  half  and 
five  knots  respectively. 

At  noon  on  the  10th  we  had  paid  out  255  miles  of 
cable — the  vessel  having  made  214  miles  from  the  shore — 
being  then  in  lat.  520  27'  50"  N.,  long.  160  15'  W.  At 
this  time  we  experienced  an  increasing  swell,  followed  later 
in  the  day  by  a  strong  breeze. 

From    this    period,  having  reached  2,000  fathoms  of 


70       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

water,  it  was  necessary  to  increase  the  strain  by  a  ton,  by 
which  the  rate  of  the  cable  was  maintained  in  due  propor- 
tion to  that  of  the  ship.  At  six  o'clock  in  the  evening 
some  difficulty  arose  through  the  cable  getting  out  of  the 
sheaves  of  the  paying-out  machine,  owing  to  the  pitch  and 
tar  hardening  in  the  groove,*  and  a  splice  of  large  dimen- 
sions passing  over  them.  This  was  rectified  by  fixing 
additional  guards  and  softening  the  tar  with  oil.  It  was 
necessary  to  bring  up  the  ship,  holding  the  cable  by 
stoppers  until  it  was  again  properly  disposed  around  the 
pulleys.  Some  importance  is  due  to  this  event,  as  showing 
that  it  is  possible  to  "lay  to"  in  deep  water  without  con- 
tinuing to  pay  out  the  cable,  a  point  upon  which  doubts 
have  frequently  been  expressed. 

Shortly  after  this  the  speed  of  the  cable  gained  con- 
siderably on  that  of  the  ship,  and  up  to  nine  o'clock,  while 
the  rate  of  the  latter  was  about  three  knots,  by  the  log, 
the  cable  was  running  out  from  five  and  a  half  to  five 
and  three-quarter  knots. 

The  strain  was  then  raised  to  25  cwt.,  but  the  wind 
and  the  sea  increasing,  and  a  current  at  the  same  time 
carrying  the  cable  at  an  angle  from  the  direct  line  of  the 
ship's  course,  it  was  found  insufficient  to  check  the  cable, 
which  was  at  midnight  making  two  and  a  half  knots  above 
the  speed  of  the  ship,  and  sometimes  imperiling  the  safe 
uncoiling  in  the  hold. 

The  retarding  force  was  therefore  increased  at  two 
o'clock  to  an  amount  equivalent  to  30  cwt.,  and  then 
again — in  consequence  of  the  speed  continuing  to  be  more 
than  it  would  be  prudent  to  permit — to  35  cwt.  By  this 
the  rate  of  the  cable  was  brought  to  a  little  short  of  five 
knots,  at  which  it  continued  steadily  until  3.45  a.m.,  when 
it  parted,  the  length  paid  out  at  the  time  being  380  miles. 

I  had  up  to  this  attended  personally  to  the  regulation 
of  the  brakes,  but  finding  that  all  was  going  on  well,  and 
it  being  necessary  that  I  should  be  temporarily  away  from 

*  The  sheaves  had  several  grooves  which  the  cable  fitted 
into  in  its  passage.  Though  possessing  some  merits,  this 
plan  was  never  again  adopted,  owing  partly  to  the  above 
risk. 


THE    FIRST   START  71 

the  machine — to  ascertain  the  rate  of  the  ship,  to  see  how 
the  cable  was  coming  out  of  the  hold,  and  also  to  visit  the 
electrician's  room — the  machine  was  for  the  moment  left 
in  charge  of  a  mechanic  who  had  been  engaged  from  the 
first  in  its  construction  and  fitting,  and  was  acquainted 
with  its  operation. 

In  proceeding  toward  the  fore  part  of  the  ship  I 
heard  the  machine  stop.  I  immediately  called  out  to  re- 
lieve the  brakes,  but  when  I  reached  the  spot  the  cable 
was  broken.  On  examining  the  machine — which  was 
otherwise  in  perfect  order — I  found  that  the  brakes  had 
not  been  released,  and  to  this,  or  to  the  hand-wheel  of 
the  brake  being  turned  the  wrong  way,  may  be  attributed 
the  stoppage  and  consequent  fracture  of  the  cable. 

When  the  rate  of  the  wheels  grew  slower,  as  the  ship 
dropped  her  stern  in  the  swell,  the  brake  should  have  been 
eased.  This  had  been  done  regularly  whenever  an  unusu- 
ally sudden  descent  of  the  ship  temporarily  withdrew  the 
pressure  from  the  cable  in  the  sea.  But  owing  to  our 
entering  the  deep  water  the  previous  morning,  and  having 
all  hands  ready  for  any  emergency  that  might  occur  there, 
the  chief  part  of  my  staff  had  been  compelled  to  give  in  at 
night  through  sheer  exhaustion,  and  hence,  being  short- 
handed,  I  was  obliged  for  the  time  to  leave  the  machine 
without,  as  it  proved,  sufficient  intelligence  to  control  it. 

I  perceive  that  on  the  next  occasion  it  will  be  needful, 
from  the  wearing  and  anxious  nature  of  the  work,  to  have 
three  separate  relays  of  staff,  and  to  employ  for  attention 
to  the  brakes  a  higher  degree  of  mechanical  skill. 

The  origin  of  the  accident  was,  no  doubt,  the  amount 
of  retarding  strain  put  upon  the  cable,  but  had  the  ma- 
chine been  properly  manipulated  at  the  time,  it  could 
not  possibly  have  taken  place. 

For  three  days  in  shallow  and  deep  water,  as  well  as 
in  rapid  transitions  from  one  to  the  other,  nothing  could 
be  more  perfect  than  the  working  of  the  cable  machinery. 
It  had  been  made  extra  heavy  with  a  view  to  recovery 
work.  It,  however,  performed  its  duty  so  smoothly  and 
efficiently  in  the  smaller  depths — where  the  weight  of  the 
cable  had  less  ability  to  overcome  its  friction  and  resist- 


72       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

ance — that  it  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  too  heavy  for  pay- 
ing out  in  deep  water,  where  it  was  necessary,  from  the 
increased  weight  of  cable,  to  restrain  its  rapid  motion,  by 
applying  to  it  a  considerable  degree  of  additional  friction. 
Its  action  was  most  complete,  and  all  parts  worked  well 
together, 

I  see  how  the  gear  can  be  improved  by  a  modification 
in  the  form  of  sheave,  by  an  addition  to  the  arrangement 
for  adjusting  the  brakes,  and  some  other  alterations;  but 
with  proper  management,  without  any  change  whatever,  I 
am  confident  that  the  whole  length  of  cable  might  have 
been  safely  laid  by  it.  And  it  must  be  remembered,  as  a 
test  of  the  work  which  it  has  done,  that  unfortunate  as 
this  termination  to  the  expedition  is,  the  longest  length  of 
cable  ever  laid  has  been  paid  out  by  it,  and  that  in  the  deep- 
est water  yet  passed  over. 

After  the  accident  had  occurred,  soundings  were  taken 
by  Lieutenant  Dayman  from  the  Cyclops,  and  the  depth 
found  to  be  2,000  fathoms. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  some  importance  was  at- 
tached to  the  cable  on  board  the  Niagara  and  Agamemnon 
being  manufactured  in  opposite  lays.*  I  thought  this  a 
favorable  opportunity  to  show  that  practically  the  differ- 
ence was  not  of  consequence  in  effecting  the  junction  in 
mid-ocean.  We  therefore  made  a  splice  between  the  two 
vessels.  This  was  then  lowered  in  a  heavy  sea,  after  which 
several  miles  were  paid  out  without  difficulty. 

I  requested  the  commanders  of  the  several  vessels  to 
proceed  to  Plymouth,  as  the  docks  there  afford  better  fa- 
cilities than  any  other  port  for  landing  the  cable  should 
it  be  necessary  to  do  so. 

The  whole  of  the  cable  remaining  on  board  has  been 
carefully  tested  and  inspected,  and  found  to  be  in  as  per- 
fect condition  as  when  it  left  the  works  at  Greenwich  and 
Birkenhead  respectively. 

One  important  point  presses  for  your  consideration  at 

*  This  was  owing  to  the  two  halves  of  the  cable  being  made 
at  different  factories,  without  any  communication  passing  be- 
tween them  on  the  subject. 


THE   FIRST  START  73 

an  early  period.  A  large  portion  of  cable  already  laid 
may  be  recovered  at  a  comparatively  small  expense.  I 
append  an  estimate  of  the  cost,  and  shall  be  glad  to  receive 
your  authority  to  proceed  with  this  work. 

I  do  not  perceive  in  our  present  position  any  reason 
for  discouragement;  but  I  have,  on  the  contrary,  a  greater 
confidence  than  ever  in  the  undertaking. 

It  has  been  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  no  obstacle 
exists  to  prevent  our  ultimate  success;  and  I  see  clearly 
how  every  difficulty  which  has  presented  itself  in  this 
voyage  can  be  effectually  dealt  with  in  the  next. 

The  cable  has  been  laid  at  the  expected  rate  in  the 
great  depths;  its  electric  working  through  the  entire 
length  has  been  satisfactorily  accomplished,  while  the 
portion  laid,  actually  improved  in  efficiency  by  being  sub- 
merged— from  the  low  temperature  of  the  water  and  the 
increased  close  texture  of  gutta-percha  thereby  effected. 

Mechanically  speaking,  the  structure  of  the  cable  has 
answered  every  expectation  that  I  had  formed  of  it.  Its 
weight  in  water  is  so  adjusted  to  the  depth  that  strain  is 
within  a  manageable  scope ;  while  the  effects  of  the  under- 
currents upon  its  surface  prove  how  dangerous  it  would  be 
to  lay  a  much  lighter  rope,  which  would,  by  the  greater 
time  occupied  in  sinking,  expose  an  increased  surface  to 
their  power,  besides  its  descent  being  at  an  angle  such  as 
would  not  provide  for  good  laying  at  the  bottom. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  regard  to  any  further  length 
made,  I  would  take  this  opportunity  of  again  strongly 
urging  the  desirability  of  a  much  larger  conductor  and 
corresponding  increase  in  the  weight  of  insulation,  in 
accordance  with  my  original  recommendation. — I  have 
the  honor  to  remain,  gentlemen,  yours  very  faithfully, 

Charles  T.  Bright, 
Engineer --in-Chief. 

To  the  Directors  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company. 


74       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

CHAPTER  IV 

PREPARATIONS      FOR    ANOTHER     ATTEMPT 

"Taking  Stock" — Further  Capital— Alterations  in  Paying- 
Out  Machinery — Improved  Testing  and  Signaling 
Apparatus. 

This  untoward  interruption  to  the  expedition 
was  naturally  a  cause  of  great  disappointment  to 
all  connected  with  the  undertaking ;  for  there  was 
not  enough  cable  left  to  complete  the  work,  nor 
was  there  time  to  get  more  made  and  stowed  on 
board  to  renew  the  attempt  before  the  season 
would  be  too  far  advanced. 

The  squadron  proceeded  to  Plymouth  to  unload 
the  cable  into  tanks  at  Keyham  (now  Devonport) 
Dockyard,  chiefly  because  some  of  the  ships  could 
not  be  spared  by  their  respective  governments  till 
the  following  year.  In  the  middle  of  October 
( 1857), the  engineer-in-chief  proceeded  to  Valen- 
tia  in  a  small  paddle-steamer  with  the  object  of 
picking  up  some  of  the  lost  line  from  this  end. 
After  experiencing  a  series  of  gales,  over  fifty 
miles  of  the  main  cable  were  recovered,  and  the 
shore  end  buoyed  ready  for  splicing  on  to  in  the 
coming  year. 

The  first  expedition  had  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
investing  public  to  the  vastness  of  the  underta- 
king, and  led  many  to  doubt  who  did  not  doubt 
before.  Some  began  to  look  upon  it  as  a  romantic 
adventure  of  the  sea,  rather  than  as  a  serious  com- 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  ANOTHER  ATTEMPT  75 

mercial  undertaking.  This  decline  of  popular 
faith  was  felt  as  soon  as  there  was  a  call  for  more 
money.  The  loss  of  335  miles  of  cable,  with  the 
postponement  of  the  expedition  to  another  year, 
was  equivalent  to  a  loss  of  £100,000. 

Raising  Further  Capital. — To  make  the  above 
sum  good,  the  capital  of  the  company  had  to  be 


r^ 


Fig.  15. — Reshipment  of  the  Cable  aboard  H. M.S.Aga- 
memnon and  U.S.N.S.  Niagara  in  Keyham  Basin. 


increased,  and  this  new  capital  was  not  so  readily 
obtainable.  The  projectors  found  that  it  was 
easy  to  go  with  the  current  of  popular  enthusiasm, 
but  very  hard  to  stem  a  growing  tide  of  popular 
distrust.  And  it  must  also  be  remembered 
that,  from  the  very  first,  the  section  of  the 
public  which  looked  with  distrust  upon  the 
idea  of  an  Atlantic  telegraph  was  far  in  ex- 
cess of  that  which  did  not ;  indeed,  the  op- 
position   encountered  was  much  on  a  par  with 


76       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

the  great  popular  prejudice  which  George  Ste- 
phenson had  to  overcome  when  projecting  his 
great  railway  schemes.  But  whatever  the  depres- 
sion at  the  untimely  termination  of  the  first  expe- 
dition, it  did  not  interfere  with  renewed  and  vig- 
orous efforts  to  prepare  for  a  second.  In  the  end 
the  appeal  to  the  shareholders  for  more  money 
was  responded  to ;  and  the  directors  were  enabled 
to  give  orders  for  the  manufacture  of  700  miles 
of  new  cable  of  the  same  description,  to  make  up 
for  what  had  been  lost,  and  to  provide  a  surplus 
against  all  contingencies.  Thus,  3,000  nautical 
miles  in  all  were  shipped  this  time,  instead  of 
2,500  miles. 

Alterations  in  the  Paying-Out  Gear. — New  pay- 
ing-out machinery  was  devised  with  a  view  to 
obviating  the  possibility  of  a  recurrence  of  the 
accident  on  the  first  expedition.  In  the  new  ap- 
paratus the  brake  (Fig.  16)  was  so  arranged  that 
a  lever  exercised  a  uniform  holding  power  in  ex- 
act proportion  to  the  weights  attached  to  it  (Fig. 
17)  ;  and  while  capable  of  being  released  by  a 
hand-wheel,  it  could  not  be  tightened.  The  gen- 
eral idea  of  this  clever  appliance  had  been  origi- 
nally introduced  by  Mr.  J.  G.  Appold  in  connection 
with  the  crank  apparatus  in  jails ;  and  it  was  now 
especially  adapted  to  the  exigencies  of  cable  work 
by  the  engineer  (Mr.  Bright)  and  Mr.  C.  E. 
Amos,  a  member  of  the  famous  engineering  firm, 
Easton  &  Amos,  who  constructed  the  entire  ma- 
chinery. The  great  future  of  the  apparatus  was 
that  it  provided  for  automatic  brake-release,  upon 
the  strain  exceeding  that  intended.  Thus,  only  a 
maximum  agreed  strain  could  be  applied,  this  be- 
ing regulated  from  time  to  time  by  weights,  ac- 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  ANOTHER  ATTEMPT  77 

cording  to  the  depth  of  water  and  consequent 
weight  of  cable  being  paid  out.  In  passing  from 
the  hold  to  the  stern  of  the  laying  vessel,  the  cable 
is  taken  round  a  drum,  or  drums.  Fig.  18  gives  a 
general  view  of  the  apparatus.  Attached  to  the 
axle  of  the  drum  is  a  wheel  fitted  with  an  iron 


Fig.  16.— The  Self-Releasing  Brake. 

friction-strap  (to  which  are  fixed  blocks  of  hard 
wood)  capable  of  exerting  a  given  retarding 
power,  varying  with  the  weights  hung  on  to  the 
lever  which  tightens  the  strap.  When  the  friction 
becomes  great,  the  wheels  have  an  increased  tend- 
ency to  carry  the  wooden  blocks  round  with 
them;  thus  the  lever-bars  are  deflected  from  the 
vertical  line  and  the  iron  band  opened  sufficiently 
to  lessen  the  brake-power. 


78       THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

Bright  also  introduced  a  dynamometer  ap- 
paratus for  indicating  and  controlling  the  strain 
during  paying  out — a  vast  improvement  on  that 
embodied  in  the  previous  machines.  The  work- 
ing of  the  entire  machine  was  as  follows  : 

"Between  the  two  brake-drums  and  the  stern  of 
the  vessel,  the  cable  was  led  under  the  grooved 
wheel,  O,  of  the  dynamometer.     This  wheel  had  a 


Fig.  17. — The  Principle  of  the  Brake. 


weight  attached  to  it,  and  could  be  moved  up  or 
down  in  an  iron  frame.  If  the  strain  upon  the 
cable  was  small,  the  wheel  would  bend  the  cable 
downward,  and  its  index  would  show  a  low  de- 
gree of  pressure;  but  whenever  the  strain  in- 
creased, the  cable,  in  straightening  itself,  would 
at  once  lift  the  dynamometer-wheel  with  the  indi- 
cator attached  to  it,  which  showed  the  pressure  in 
hundredweights  and  tons.  The  amount  of  strain 
with  a  given  weight  upon  the  wheel,  G,  was  deter- 
mined by  experiments,  and  a  hand-wheel  in  con- 
nection with  the  levers  of  the  paying-out  machine 
was  placed  immediately  opposite  the  dynamom- 
eter ;  so  that,  directly  the  indicator  showed 
strain  increasing,  the  person  in  charge  could  at 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  ANOTHER  ATTEMPT     79 

once,  by  turning  the  hand-wheel,  lift  up  the 
weights  that  tightened  the  friction-straps,  and  so 
let  the  cable  run  freely  through  the  paying-out 
machine.  Although,  therefore,  the  strain  could 
be  reduced — or  entirely  withdrawn — in  a  moment, 
it  could  not  be  increased  by  the  man  at  the  wheel. 
The  cable  in  coming  from  the  tanks,  passed  under 
a  lightly  weighted  'jockey,'*  J,  pulley.  This  ar- 
rangement, while  leading  the  line  on  to  the  drums, 
at  the  same  time  checked  it  slightly.  From  here 
it  was  guided  by  a  grooved  pulley,  or  V-sheave,f 
L,  along  the  tops  of  both  drums,  at  B,  then  three 
times  round  them,  and  hence  over  another 
V-sheave,  F,  and  on  .to  the  dynamometer.  From 
this  the  cable  was  led  over  a  second  pulley,  and  so 
into  the  sea  by  the  stern-sheaves. "J 

This  entire  apparatus — simplified  as  regards 
the  brake — has  since  been  universally  adopted  for 
submarine-cable  work,§  with  the  exception  that  a 
single-flanged  drum,  fitted  with  a  sort  of  plow, 
skid,  or  knife-edge — to  guide  or  "fleet"  the  incom- 
ing turn  of  cable  correctly  on  to  the  drum — is  now 
used  in  place  of  the  grooved  sheave,  or  sheaves. 

As  soon  as  the  new  machinery  was  constructed, 
all  the  engineering  staff  gathered  together  for 
the  purpose  of  thoroughly  acquainting  them- 
selves with  its  working.  Mr.  F.  C.  Webb,  hav- 
ing engagements  elsewhere,  had  been  replaced  by 

*  This  apparatus  first  gained  its  name  from  the  nature  of 
the  part  it  plays  in  machinery,  being  similar  to  that  of  a 
human  jockey. 

f  So  called  on  account  of  the  form  of  grooving  adopted 
for  taking  the  under  side  of  the  table. 

J  Submarine  Telegraphs. 

§  It  is  partly  for  this  reason  that  so  full  an  account  is  given 
here. 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  ANOTHER  ATTEMPT     8 1 

Mr.  W.  E.  Everett,  U.S.A.,  who  had  been  chief 
marine  engineer  of  the  Niagara.  Mr.  Everett 
was  to  have  charge  of  the  machinery  on  the  laying 
vessel,  while  Mr.  Woodhouse  controlled  the  cable 
operations. 

Alterations  in  the  Electrical  Apparatus. — Since 
the  manufacture  of  the  cable  in  1857,  Professor 
Thomson  had  become  impressed  with  the  convic- 
tion that  the  electric  conductivity  of  copper  varied 
greatly  with  its  degree  of  purity.  As  a  result  of 
the  professor's  further  investigations,  the  extra 
length  of  cable  made  for  the  coming  expedition 
was  subjected  to  systematic  and  searching  tests 
for  the  purity  and  conductivity  of  the  copper. 
Every  hank  of  wire  was  tested,  and  all  whose  con- 
ducting power  fell  below  a  certain  value  rejected. 
Here,  then,  we  have  the  first  instance  of  an  organ- 
ized system  of  testing  for  conductivity  at  the  cable 
factory — a  system  which  has  ever  since  been  rig- 
orously insisted  on. 

Professor  Thomson's  Mirror  Instrument. — 
And  now,  in  the  spring  of  1858,  an  invention  was 
perfected  that  was  destined  to  have  a  remarkable 
effect  on  submarine-cable  enterprise.  For  Pro- 
fessor Thomson  (now  Lord  Kelvin)  devised  and 
perfected  the  mirror-speaking  instrument,  then 
often  described  as  the  marine  galvanometer,*  of 
which  it  may  be  fairly  said  that  it  entirely  revolu- 
tionized long-distance  signaling  and  electrical 
testing  aboard  ship. 

*  In  those  days  all  such  instruments  were  spoken  of  as  gal- 
vanometers, no  matter  for  what  purpose  they  were  employed. 
Moreover,  this  instrument  was  also  used  sometimes  for 
testing.  That  which  goes  by  the  name  of  the  marine  gal- 
vanometer in  the  present  day  was  not  invented  by  Lord 
Kelvin  till  some  years  later. 
6 


82       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

This  most  ingenious  apparatus  consists  of  a 
small  and  exceedingly  light  steel  magnet  (a) 
(Fig.  19)  with  a  tiny  reflector  or  mirror  fixed  to 
it,  both  together  weighing  but  a  single  grain  or 
thereabouts.  This  delicate  magnet  is  suspended 
from  its  center  by  a  filament  of  silk  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  coil  (b)  of  the  thinnest  insulated 
copper  wire. 

A  very  weak  current  is  sufficient  to  produce  a 
slight,  though  nearly  imperceptible,  movement  of 
the  suspended  magnet  when  electricity  passes 
through  the  surrounding  coil. 
A  fine  ray  of  light  from  a 
shaded  lamp,  behind  a  screen 
(Figs.  20  and  21)  at  a  short 
distance,  is  directed  through 
a  slot  in  the  screen,  thence  to 
the  open  center  of  the  coil  (c) 

fig.  19-The  Reflect-    uP?n  the  mirror.      It  is  then 
ing  Magnet.  reflected  back  to  a  graduated 

scale  (f) .  As  may  be  seen  from 
Fig.  21,  an  exceedingly  slight  angle  of  motion  on 
the  part  of  the  magnet  (a)  is  thus  made  to  mag- 
nify the  movement  of  the  spot  of  light  upon  the 
scale  (f),  and  to  render  it  so  considerable  as  to  be 
readily  noted  by  the  eye  of  the  operating  clerk. 
The  ray  is  brought  to  a  focus  by  passing  through 
a  lens.  By  combinations  of  these  movements  of 
the  speck  of  light  (in  length  and  direction)  upon 
the  index,  an  alphabet  is  readily  formed.  The 
magnet  is  artificially  brought  back  to  zero  with 
great  precision  after  each  signal  by  the  earth's 
magnetism,  and  also  both  by  the  natural  tor- 
sion of  the  fiber  and  the  controlling  action  of 
the  adjusting  magnet   (e)    (Fig.   20),   with   the 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  ANOTHER  ATTEMPT  83 


help    of    the    thumb-screw    (d)    for    regulation 
purposes. 

In  a  word,  Professor  Thomson's  combined  mir- 
ror-telegraph and  marine  galvanometer  transmit- 


Fig.  20. — Reflecting  Galvanometer  and  Speaker. 

ted  messages  by  multiplying  and  magnifying  the 
signals  through  a  cable  by  the  agency  of  impon- 
derable light. 

It  is  only  to  be  regretted  that  the  electrician 
responsible  for  the  subsequent  working  through 


a£ 


Fig.  21. 


operations  did  not  sooner  appreciate  the  great 
beauties  of  the  above  apparatus,  and  the  advan- 
tage of  a  small  generating  force  such  as  it  alone 
required. 


84       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  TRIAL  TRIP 

Rehearsal  of  Cable  Operations — Successful  Experiments 
and  Performances. 


The  engineer-in-chief  (Mr.  Bright)  arranged 
that  this  time  an  experimental  expedition  should 
be  first  made,  during  which  a  complete  rehearsal 
was  to  be  gone  through  of  the  various  operations 
to  be  performed  during  cable  maneuvers.     These 


Fig.  22. — Deck  of  H.M.S.  Agamemnon  with  Paying-out 
Apparatus . 

operations  were  to  consist  of  making  splices,  pick- 
ing up  and  buoying  (besides  laying)  in  deep 
water,  and  exercising  all  hands  in  their  work  gen- 
erally. It  was  on  this  occasion  also  agreed  that 
paying  out  should  start  from  mid-ocean  instead 


THE  TRIAL  TRIP 


85 


of  from  either  shore.  It  was  further  arranged 
that  the  main  cable  should  be  buoyed  at  each  end, 
and  the  connection  to  it  by  the  heavy  cable  from 
shore  effected  at  the  earliest  opportunity. 

All  the  3,000  miles  of  cable  was  coiled  into  the 
two  large  ships  by  the  end  of  May.     Fig.  22  gives 


Fig.  23. — Stowage  of  the  Cable  Coils  on  the  Niagara. 

a  general  idea  of  the  paying-out  apparatus 
mounted  on  the  deck  of  the  Agamemnon,  and 
Fig.  23  a  view  in  section  of  the  fore-tanks  of  the 
Niagara  when  loaded  with  her  cargo  of  cable. 
The  engineer  had  this  time  fitted  cast-iron  cones 


Fig.  24. — The  Loading  of  the  Agamemnon. 

in  the  middle  of  each  cable-coil  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  safe  paying  out,  besides  providing  a 
large  margin  of  space  to  the  hatchway  above. 
Fig,  24  shows  the  loading  of  the  Agamemnon. 


86       THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

The  rest  of  the  telegraph  squadron  was  on  this 
occasion  made  up  by  H.M.  Gorgon,  H.M.  paddle- 
steamer  Valorous,  and  H.M.  surveying-steamer 
Porcupine. 

The  fleet  set  forth  on  their  second  cruise  on 
May  29,  1858 — this  time  without  any  show  of 
public  enthusiasm.  Mr.  Bright  was  again  as- 
sisted by  the  same  engineering  staff,  but  Professor 
Thomson  had  agreed  to  take  a  more  active  part  in 
the  electrical  work.  The  Bay  of  Biscay  was  to 
be  the  scene  of  the  experiments — the  actual  site 
being  about  120  miles  northwest  of  Corunna, 
where  the  Gorgon  obtained  soundings  of  2,530 
fathoms  or  nearly  three  statute  miles. 

The  Agamemnon  and  Niagara  were  then 
backed  close  together,  stern  on,  and  a  strong 
hawser  was  passed  between  them.  Each  ship 
had  on  board  some  defective  cable  for  the  experi- 
ments about  to  be  conducted.  The  proceedings 
may  perhaps  best  be  described  by  extracts  from 
the  engineer's  diary : 

Monday,  May  31st,  10  A.M.,  hove  to,  lat.  470  n', 
long.  90  37'.  Up  to  midday  engaged  in  making  splice 
between  experimental  cable  in  fore  coil  and  that  in  main 
hold,  besides  other  minor  operations.  In  afternoon 
getting  hawser  from  Niagara  and  her  portion  of  cable  to 
make  joint  and  splice.  4  p.m.,  commenced  splice;  5.15 
splice  completed ;  5.25,  let  go  splice-frame  (weight  3 
cwt.)  over  gangway,  amidships,  starboard  side.*  5.30, 
after  getting  splice-frame  (containing  the  splice)  clear  of  the 
ship  and  lowering  it  to  the  bottom,   each  vessel   (then 

*  This  splice  -  frame  was  an  ingenious  arrangement  for 
neutralizing  the  untwisting  tendency  of  two  opposite  lays 
when  spliced  together,  but  is  never  required  in  present-day 
practise. 


THE   TRIAL   TRIP  87 

about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  apart)  commenced  paying  out 
in  opposite  directions. 

9  p.m.,  got  on  board  Niagara's  warp  and  her  end  of 
cable  to  make  another  splice  for  second  experiment. 

June  1st. — 1  a.m.  (night),  electrical  continuity  gone, 
the  cable  having  parted  after  two  miles  in  all  had  been 
paid  out* 

Since  1  a.m.,  engaged  in  hauling  in  our  cable.  Re- 
covered all  our  portion,  and  even  managed  to  heave  up 
the  splice-frame  (in  perfect  condition),  besides  100  fathoms 
of  Niagara's  cable,  which  she  had  parted.  Fastened 
splice  to  stern  of  vessel  and  ceased  operations. 

9.23  a.m.,  second  experiment.  Started  paying-out  again. 
Weather  very  misty. 

9.40,  one  mile  paid  out  at  strain  16  cwt.;  angle  of 
cable  1 6°  with  the  horizon:  running  out  straight;  rate  of 
ship  2,  cable  3. 

9.45,  changed  to  lower  hold.  9.56,  two  miles  out; 
last  mile  in  i6|  minutes;  strain  17  to  20  cwt.;  angle  of 
cable  200.     10.10,  last  of  the  three  miles  out  in  14  minutes. 

10.32  a.  m.,  four  and  a  half  miles  out.  Third  experi- 
ment— stopped  ship,  lowered  guard,  stoppered  cable. 

10.50,  buoy  let  go,  strain  16  cwt.  when  let  go,  the 
cable  being  nearly  up  and  down. 

1 1. 6,  running  at  rate  of  5!  knots  paying  out,  strain 
21  to  23  cwt.,  varying.  Cable  shortly  afterward  parted 
through  getting  jammed  in  the  machinery. 

The  subsequent  experiments  were  mainly  in  the 
direction  of  buoying,  picking  up,  and  passing  the 
cable  from  the  stern  to  the  bow  sheave  for  picking 
up.  All  of  these  operations  were  in  turn  success- 
fully performed ;  and  finally,  in  paying  out  a  speed 
of  seven  knots  was  attained  without  difficulty. 
During  all  this  time  electrical  communication  had 

*  This,  of  course,  did  not  in  any  way  come  as  a  surprise, 
for  the  length  of  cable  employed  for  these  experiments  had 
long  since  been  condemned  as  imperfect. 


'. 


THE  STORM  89 

been  maintained  between  the  ships ;  and  it  is  some- 
what remarkable  that,  through  this  more  or  less 
damaged  cable,  the  electricians  were  able  to  work 
a  needle-instrument  and  obtain  a  deflection  on  it 
of  70  degrees. 

And  now,  the  program  being  exhausted,  the 
ships  returned  to  Plymouth.  On  the  whole,  the 
trip  had  proved  eminently  satisfactory.  The 
paying-out  machinery  had  worked  well,  the  vari- 
ous engineering  operations  had  been  successfully 
performed,  and  the  electrical  working  through  the 
whole  cable  was  perfect. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  STORM 

The  "wire  ships"  thus  additionally  experienced 
arrived  at  Plymouth  on  June  3d,  and  some  fur- 
ther arrangements  were  made,  principally  con- 
nected with  the  electrical  department. 

A  week  later — i.  e.,  on  Thursday,  June  10th — 
having  taken  in  a  fresh  supply  of  coal,  the  expedi- 
tion again  left  England  "with  fair  skies  and 
bright  prospects."  The  barometer  standing  at 
30.64,  it  was  an  auspicious  start  in  what  was  de- 
clared by  a  consensus  of  nautical  authorities  to  be 
the  best  time  of  the  year  for  the  Atlantic. 

This  prognostication  was  doomed  to  a  terrible 
disappointment,  for  the  voyage  nearly  ended  in 
the  Agamemnon  "turning  turtle."  She  was  re- 
peatedly almost  on  her  beam  ends,  the  cable  was 
partly  shifted,  and  a  large  number  of  those  on 


90       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

board  were  more  or  less  seriously  injured.  The 
load  of  cable  made  all  the  difference  when  brought 
into  comparison  with  an  ordinary  ship,  under 
stress  of  weather.  It  was  bad  enough  to  cruise 
with  a  dead  weight  forward  of  some  250  tons — a 
weight  under  which  her  planks  gaped  an  inch 
apart,  and  her  beams  threatened  daily  to  give  way. 
But  when  to  these  evils  were  added  the  fear  that 
in  some  of  her  heavy  rolls  the  whole  mass  would 
slip  and  take  the  vessel's  side  out,  it  will  be  seen 
that  this  precious  coil  was  justly  regarded  as  a 
standing  danger — the  millstone  about  the  necks  of 
all  on  board. *  Oddly  enough,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  Agamemnon  had  scant  accommodation 
left  for  fuel,  every  one  at  the  start  was  bemoaning 
the  entire  absence  of  breeze.  There  were  some 
even,  who,  never  having  been  at  sea  before,  mut- 
tered rash  hopes  about  meeting  an  Atlantic  gale. 
Their  wishes  were  soon  to  be  completely  realized. 

In  order  that  laying  operations  should  be 
started  by  the  two  ships  in  mid-ocean,  it  was  ar- 
ranged that  the  entire  fleet  should  meet  in  latitude 
530  2!  and  longitude  330  18'  as  a  rendezvous.  As 
it  is  impossible  to  follow  the  movements  of  more 
than  one  ship  at  a  time,  and  as  the  Agamemnon 
had  the  more  exciting  experience,  we  will  confine 
our  attention  to  her  up  to  the  date  of  the  rendez- 
vous. 

The  day  after  starting  there  was  no  wind ;  but 
on  Saturday,  June  12th,  a  breeze  sprung  up,  and, 
with  screw  hoisted  and  fires  raked  out,  the 
Agamemnon  bowled  along  at  a  rare  pace  under 

*  And  so  it  is  sometimes  with  telegraph-ships — as  regards 
the  dead  weight  of  cable — even  in  the  present  day,  when 
compared  with  the  risks  run  by  ordinary  seagoing  vessels. 


THE   STORM  91 

"royals"  and  studding-sails.  The  barometer  fell 
fast,  and  squally  weather  coming  on  with  the 
boisterous  premonitory  symptoms  of  an  Atlantic 
gale,  even  those  least  versed  in  such  matters  could 
see  at  a  glance  that  they  were  "in  for  it."  The 
following  day  the  sky  wore  a  wretched  mist — half 
rain,  half  vapor — through  which  the  attendant 
vessels  loomed  faintly  like  shadows.  The  gale 
increased ;  till  at  four  in  the  afternoon  the  good 
ship  was  rushed  through  the  foam  under  close- 
reefed  topsails  and  foresail.  That  night  the  storm 
got  worse,  and  most  of  the  squadron  gradually 
parted  company.  The  ocean  resembled  one  vast 
snowdrift,  the  whitish  glare  from  which — re- 
flected from  the  dark  clouds  that  almost  rested  on 
the  sea — had  a  tremendous  and  unnatural  effect, 
as  if  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature  had  been  re- 
versed. 

Very  heavy  weather  continued  till  the  follow- 
ing Sunday  (June  20th),  which  ushered  in  as 
fierce  a  storm  as  ever  swept  over  the  Atlantic. 
The  narrative  of  this  fight  of  nautical  science  with 
the  elements  may  best  be  continued  in  the  words 
of  the  representative  of  The  Times,  especially  as 
it  is  probably  the  most  intensely  realistic  descrip- 
tion of  a  storm  that  has  ever  been  written  by  an 
eye-witness : 

The  Niagara,  which  had  hitherto  kept  close,  while 
the  other  smaller  vessels  had  dropped  out  of  sight,  began 
to  give  us  a  very  wide  berth,  and  as  darkness  increased  it 
was  a  case  of  every  one  for  himself. 

Our  ship,  the  Agamemnon,  rolling  many  degrees — not 
every  one  can  imagine  how  she  went  at  it  that  night — 
was  laboring  so  heavily  that  she  looked  like  breaking  up. 

The  massive  beams  under  her  upper-deck  coil  cracked 


92       THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

and  snapped  with  a  noise  resembling  that  of  small  artillery, 
almost  drowning  the  hideous  roar  of  the  wind  as  it  moaned 
and  howled  through  the  rigging,  jerking  and  straining  the 
little  storm-sails  as  though  it  meant  to  tear  them  from  the 
yards.  Those  in  the  impoverished  cabins  on  the  main 
deck  had  little  sleep  that  night,  for  the  upper-deck  planks 
above  them  were  ''working  themselves  free,"  as  sailors 
say;  and  beyond  a  doubt  they  were  infinitely  more  free 
than  easy,  for  they  groaned  under  the  pressure  of  the  coil 
with  a  dreadful  uproar,  and  availed  themselves  of  the 
opportunity  to  let  in  a  little  light,  with  a  good  deal  of 
water,  at  every  roll.  The  sea,  too,  kept  striking  with 
dull,  heavy  violence  against  the  vessel's  bows,  forcing  its 
way  through  hawse-holes  and  ill-closed  ports  with  a 
heavy  slush;  and  thence,  hissing  and  winding  aft,  it 
roused  the  occupants  of  the  cabins  aforesaid  to  a  knowl- 
edge that  their  floors  were  under  water,  and  that  the 
flotsam  and  jetsam  noises  they  heard  beneath  were  only 
caused  by  their  outfit  for  the  voyage  taking  a  cruise  of 
its  own  in  some  five  or  six  inches  of  dirty  bilge.  Such 
was  Sunday  night,  and  such  was  a  fair  average  of  all  the 
nights  throughout  the  week,  varying  only  from  bad  to 
worse.     On  Monday  things  became  desperate. 

The  barometer  was  lower —  and,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
the  wind  and  sea  were  infinitely  higher — than  the  day  be- 
fore. It  was  singular,  but  at  twelve  o'clock  the  sun  pierced 
through  the  pall  of  clouds  and  shone  brilliantly  for  half  an 
hour,  and  during  that  brief  time  it  blew  as  it  had  not  often 
blown  before.  So  fierce  was  this  gust  that  its  roar  drowned 
every  other  sound,  and  it  was  almost  impossible  to  give 
the  watch  the  necessary  orders  for  taking  in  the  close- 
reefer  foresail,  which,  when  furled,  almost  left  the  Aga- 
memnon under  bare  poles,  though  still  surging  through 
the  water  at  speed.  This  gust  passed,  the  usual  gale 
set  in,  now  blowing  steadily  from  the  southwest,  and 
taking  us  more  and  more  out  of  our  course  each  minute. 
Every  hour  the  storm  got  worse,  till  toward  five  in  the 
afternoon,  when  it  seemed  at  its  height — and  raged  with 
such  a  violence  of  wind  and  sea — that  matters  really 
looked  "desperate"  even  for  such  a  strong  and  large  ship 


THE  STORM  93 

as  the  Agamemnon.  The  upper-deck  coil  had  strained 
her  decks  throughout  excessively,  and  though  this  mass 
in  theory  was  supposed  to  prevent  her  rolling  so  quickly 
and  heavily  as  she  would  have  done  without  it,  yet  still 
she  heeled  over  to  such  an  alarming  extent  that  fears  of 
the  coil  itself  shifting  again  occupied  every  mind,  and  it 
was  accordingly  strengthened  with  additional  shores 
bolted  down  to  the  deck.  The  space  occupied  by  the 
main  coil  below  had  deprived  the  Agamemnon  of  several 
of  her  coal-bunkers,  and  in  order  to  make  up  for  this 
deficiency,  as  well  as  to  endeavor  to  counterbalance  the 
immense  mass  which  weighed  her  down  by  the  head, 
a  large  quantity  of  coals  had  been  stowed  on  the  deck 
aft.  On  each  side  of  her  main  deck  were  thirty-five  tons, 
secured  in  a  mass,  while  on  the  lower  deck  ninety  tons 
were  stowed  away  in  the  same  manner.  The  precau- 
tions taken  to  secure  these  huge  masses  also  required 
attention  as  the  great  ship  surged  from  side  to  side.  But 
these  coals  seemed  secure,  and  were  so,  in  fact,  unless 
the  vessel  should  almost  capsize — an  unpleasant  alterna- 
tive which  no  one  certainly  anticipated  then.  Every- 
thing, therefore,  was  made  ''snug,"  as  sailors  call  it,  though 
their  efforts  by  no  means  resulted  in  the  comfort  which 
might  have  been  expected  from  the  term.  The  night, 
however,  passed  over  without  any  mischance  beyond 
the  smashing  of  all  things  incautiously  left  loose  and 
capable  of  rolling,  and  one  or  two  attempts  which  the 
Agamemnon  made  in  the  middle  watch  to  turn  bottom 
upward.  In  all  other  matters  it  was  the  mere  ditto 
of  Sunday  night,  except,  perhaps,  a  little  worse,  and 
certainly  much  more  wet  below.  Tuesday  the  gale  con- 
tinued with  almost  unabated  force,  though  the  barometer 
had  risen  to  29.30,  and  there  was  sufficient  sun  to  take  a 
clear  observation,  which  showed  our  distance  from  the 
rendezvous  to  be  563  miles.  During  this  afternoon  the 
Niagara  joined  company,  and  the  wind  going  more  ahead, 
the  Agamemnon  took  to  violent  pitching,  plunging  steadily 
into  the  trough  of  the  sea  as  if  she  meant  to  break  her 
back  and  lay  the  Atlantic  cable  in  a  heap.  This  change 
in  her  motion  strained  and  taxed  every  inch  of  timber 


94       THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

near  the  coils  to  the  very  utmost.  It  was  curious  to  see 
how  they  worked  and  bent  as  the  Agamemnon  went  at 
everything  she  met  head  first.  One  time  she  pitched  so 
heavily  as  to  break  one  of  the  main  beams  of  the  lower 
deck,  which  had  to  be  shored  with  screw-jacks  forthwith. 
Saturday,  the  19th  of  June,  things  looked  a  little  better. 
The  barometer  seemed  inclined  to  go  up  and  the  sea  to  go 
down;  and  for  the  first  time  that  morning  since  the  gale 
began,  some  six  days  previous,  the  decks  could  be  walked 
with  tolerable  comfort  and  security.  But  alas!  appear- 
ances are  as  deceitful  in  the  Atlantic  as  elsewhere;  and 
during  a  comparative  calm  that  afternoon  the  glass  fell 
lower,  while  a  thin  line  of  black  haze  to  windward  seemed 
to  grow  up  into  the  sky,  until  it  covered  the  heavens  with 
a  somber  darkness,  and  warned  us  that,  after  all,  the  worst 
was  yet  to  come.  There  was  much  heavy  rain  that  even- 
ing, and  then  the  wind  began,  not  violently,  nor  in  gusts, 
but  with  a  steadily  increasing  force,  as  if  the  gale  was  deter- 
mined to  do  its  work  slowly  but  do  it  well.  The  sea  was 
"ready -built  to  hand,"  as  sailors  say,  so  at  first  the  storm 
did  little  more  than  urge  on  the  ponderous  masses  of  water 
with  redoubled  force,  and  fill  the  air  with  the  foam  and 
spray  it  tore  from  their  rugged  crests.  By  and  by,  how- 
ever, it  grew  more  dangerous,  and  Captain  Preedy  himself 
remained  on  deck  throughout  the  middle  watch,  for  the 
wind  was  hourly  getting  worse  and  worse,  and  the  Aga- 
memnon, rolling  thirty  degrees  each  way,  was  straining 
to  a  dangerous  extent. 

At  4  a.m.  sail  was  shortened  to  close-reefer  fore  and 
main  topsails  and  reefed  foresail — a  long  and  tedious  job, 
for  the  wind  so  roared  and  howled  and  the  hiss  of  the 
boiling  sea  was  so  deafening  that  words  of  command  were 
useless,  and  the  men  aloft,  holding  on  with  all  their 
might  to  the  yards  as  the  ship  rolled  over  and  over  almost 
to  the  water,  were  quite  incapable  of  struggling  with  the 
masses  of  wet  canvas  that  flapped  and  plunged  as  if  men 
and  yards  and  everything  were  going  away  together.  The 
ship  was  almost  as  wet  inside  as  out,  and  so  things  wore 
on  till  eight  or  nine  o'clock,  everything  getting  adrift  and 
being  smashed,  and  every  one  on  board  jamming  them- 


THE   STORM  95 

selves  up  in  corners  or  holding  on  to  beams  to  prevent 
their  going  adrift  likewise.  At  ten  o'clock  the  Aga- 
memnon was  rolling  and  laboring  fearfully,  with  the  sky 
getting  darker,  and  both  wind  and  sea  increasing  every 
minute.  At  about  half-past  ten  o'clock  three  or  four  gi- 
gantic waves  were  seen  approaching  the  ship,  coming 
slowly  on  through  the  mist  nearer  and  nearer,  rolling  on 
like  hills  of  green  water,  with  a  crown  of  foam  that  seemed 
to  double  their  height.  The  Agamemnon  rose  heavily  to 
the  first,  and  then  went  down  quickly  into  the  deep 
trough  of  the  sea,  falling  over  as  she  did  so,  so  as  almost 
to  capsize  completely  on  the  port  side.  There  was  a 
fearful  crashing  as  she  lay  over  this  way,  for  everything 
broke  adrift,  whether  secured  or  not,  and  the  uproar  and 
confusion  were  terrific  for  a  minute,  then  back  she  came 
again  on  the  starboard  beam  in  the  same  manner,  only 
quicker,  and  still  deeper  than  before.  Again  there  was 
the  same  noise  and  crashing,  and  the  officers  in  the  ward- 
room, who  knew  the  danger  of  the  ship,  struggled  to  their 
feet  and  opened  the  door  leading  to  the  main  deck.  Here, 
for  an  instant,  the  scene  almost  defies  description.  Amid 
loud  shouts  and  efforts  to  save  themselves,  a  confused 
mass  of  sailors,  boys,  and  marines,  with  deck -buckets, 
ropes,  ladders,  and  everything  that  could  get  loose,  and 
which  had  fallen  back  again  to  the  port  side,  were  being 
hurled  again  in  a  mass  across  the  ship  to  starboard. 
Dimly,  and  only  for  an  instant,  could  this  be  seen,  with 
groups  of  men  clinging  to  the  beams  with  all  their  might, 
with  a  mass  of  water,  which  had  forced  its  way  in  through 
ports  and  decks,  surging  about,  and  then,  with  a  tre- 
mendous crash,  as  the  ship  fell  still  deeper  over,  the  coals 
stowed  on  the  main  deck  broke  loose,  and  smashing 
everything  before  them,  went  over  among  the  rest  to 
leeward.  The  coal-dust  hid  everything  on  the  main  deck 
in  an  instant,  but  the  crashing  could  still  be  heard  going 
on  in  all  directions,  as  the  lumps  and  sacks  of  coal,  with 
stanchions,  ladders,  and  mess-tins,  went  leaping  about  the 
decks,  pouring  down  the  hatchways,  and  crashing  through 
the  glass  skylights  into  the  engine-room  below.  Still  it 
was  not  done,  and,  surging  again  over  another  tremendous 


THE  STORM  97 

wave,  the  Agamemnon  dropped  down  still  more  to  port, 
and  the  coals  on  the  starboard  side  of  the  lower  deck  gave 
way  also,  and  carried  everything  before  them.  Matters 
now  became  serious,  for  it  was  evident  that  two  or  three 
more  lurches  and  the  masts  would  go  like  reeds,  while 
half  the  crew  might  be  maimed  or  killed  below.  Captain 
Preedy  was  already  on  the  poop,  with  Lieutenant  Gibson, 
and  it  was  "Hands,  wear  ship,"  at  once,  while  Mr.  Brown, 
the  indefatigable  chief  engineer,  was  ordered  to  get  up 
steam  immediately.  The  crew  gained  the  deck  with 
difficulty,  and  not  till  after  a  lapse  of  some  minutes,  for 
all  the  ladders  had  been  broken  away;  the  men  were 
grimed  with  coal-dust,  and  many  bore  still  more  serious 
marks  upon  their  faces  of  how  they  had  been  knocked 
about  below.  There  was  some  confusion  at  first,  for  the 
storm  was  fearful.  The  officers  were  quite  inaudible,  and 
a  wild,  dangerous  sea,  running  mountains  high,  heeled 
the  great  ship  backward  and  forward,  so  that  the  crew 
were  unable  to  keep  their  feet  for  an  instant,  and  in  some 
cases  were  thrown  across  the  decks  in  a  fearful  manner. 
Two  marines  went  with  a  rush  head  foremost  into  the 
paying-out  machine,  as  if  they  meant  to  butt  it  over  the 
side,  yet,  strange  to  say,  neither  the  men  nor  the  machine 
suffered.  What  made  matters  worse,  the  ship's  barge, 
though  lashed  down  to  the  deck,  had  partly  broken  loose, 
and  dropping  from  side  to  side  as  the  vessel  lurched,  it 
threatened  to  crush  any  who  ventured  to  pass  it.  The 
regular  discipline  of  the  ship,  however,  soon  prevailed, 
and  the  crew  set  to  work  to  wear  round  the  ship  on  the 
starboard  tack,  while  Lieutenants  Robinson  and  Murray 
went  below  to  see  after  those  who  had  been  hurt,  and 
about  the  number  of  whom  extravagant  rumors  prevailed 
among  the  men.  There  were,  however,  unfortunately  but 
too  many.  The  marine  sentry  outside  the  ward-room 
door  on  the  main  deck  had  not  had  time  to  escape,  and 
was  completely  buried  under  the  coals.  Some  time 
elapsed  before  he  could  be  got  out,  for  one  of  the  beams 
used  to  shore  up  the  sacks,  which  had  crushed  his  arm 
very  badly,  still  lay  across  the  mangled  limb,  jamming  it 
in  such  a  manner  that  it  was  found  impossible  to  remove 
7 


98       THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

it  without  risking  the  man's  life.  Saws,  therefore,  had 
to  be  sent  for,  and  the  timber  sawn  away  before  the 
poor  fellow  could  be  extricated.  Another  marine  on 
the  lower  deck  endeavored  to  save  himself  by  catching 
hold  of  what  seemed  a  ledge  in  the  planks,  but,  unfor- 
tunately, it  was  only  caused  by  the  beams  straining 
apart,  and,  of  course,  as  the  Agamemnon  righted  they 
closed  again,  and  crushed  his  ringers  flat.  One  of  the 
assistant  engineers  was  also  buried  among  the  coals  on  the 
lower  deck,  and  sustained  some  severe  internal  injuries. 
The  lurch  of  the  ship  was  calculated  at  forty-five  degrees 
each  way  for  five  times  in  rapid  succession.  The  galley- 
coppers  were  only  half  filled  with  soup;  nevertheless,  it 
nearly  all  poured  out,  and  scalded  some  of  the  poor  fellows 
who  were  extended  on  the  decks,  holding  on  to  anything 
in  reach.  These,  with  a  dislocation,  were  the  chief 
casualties,  but  there  were  others  of  bruises  and  contu- 
sions, more  or  less  severe,  and,  of  course,  a  long  list  of 
escapes  more  marvelous  than  any  injury.  One  poor 
fellow  went  head  first  from  the  main  deck  into  the  hold 
without  being  hurt,  and  one  on  the  orlop-deck  was  "chev- 
ied" about  for  some  ten  minutes  by  three  large  casks  of 
oil  which  had  got  adrift,  and  any  one  of  which  would 
have  flattened  him  like  a  pancake  had  it  overtaken  him. 
As  soon  as  the  Agamemnon  had  gone  round  on  the 
other  tack  the  Niagara  wore  also,  and  bore  down  as  if  to 
render  assistance.  She  had  witnessed  our  danger,  and,  as 
we  afterward  learned,  imagined  that  the  upper-deck  coil 
had  broken  loose,  and  that  we  were  sinking.  Things, 
however,  were  not  so  bad  as  that,  though  they  were  bad 
enough,  heaven  knows,  for  everything  seemed  to  go  wrong 
that  day.  The  upper-deck  coil  had  strained  the  ship  to 
the  very  utmost,  but  still  held  on  fast.  But  not  so  the 
coil  in  the  main  hold,  which  had  begun  to  get  adrift,  and 
the  top  kept  working  and  shifting  over  from  side  to  side, 
as  the  ship  lurched,  until  some  forty  or  fifty  miles  were  in 
a  hopeless  state  of  tangle,  resembling  nothing  so  much  as 
a  cargo  of  live  eels,  and  there  was  every  prospect  of  the 
tangle  spreading  deeper  and  deeper  as  the  bad  weather 
continued. 


THE   STORM  99 

Going  round  upon  the  starboard  tack  had  eased  the 
ship  to  a  certain  extent,  but  with  such  a  wind  and  such  a 
sea — both  of  which  were  getting  worse  than  better — it  was 
impossible  to  effect  much  for  the  xA.gamemnon's  relief,  and 
so  by  twelve  o'clock  she  was  rolling  almost  as  badly  as 
ever.  The  crew,  who  had  been  at  work  since  nearly  four 
in  the  morning,  were  set  to  clear  up  the  decks  from  the 
masses  of  coal  that  covered  them;  and  while  this  was 
going  forward  a  heavy  sea  struck  the  stern,  and  smashed 
the  large  iron  guard-frame  which  had  been  fixed  there  to 
prevent  the  cable  fouling  the  screw  in  paying  out.  Now 
that  one  side  had  broken,  it  was  expected  every  moment 
that  other  parts  would  go,  and  the  pieces  hanging  down 
either  smash  the  screw  or  foul  the  rudder-post.  It  is  not 
overestimating  the  danger  to  say  that  had  the  latter 
accident  occurred  in  such  a  sea,  and  with  a  vessel  so  over- 
laden the  chances  would  have  been  sadly  against  the 
Agamemnon  ever  appearing  at  the  rendezvous.  Fortu- 
nately it  was  found  possible  to  secure  the  broken  frame 
temporarily  with  hawsers  so  as  to  prevent  it  dropping 
farther,  though  nothing  could  hinder  the  fractured  end 
from  striking  against  the  vessel's  side  with  such  force  as 
to  lead  to  serious  apprehensions  that  it  would  establish 
a  dangerous  leak  under  water.  It  was  near  three  in  the 
afternoon  before  this  was  quite  secured,  the  gale  still 
continuing,  and  the  sea  running  even  worse.  The 
condition  of  the  masts,  too,  at  this  time  was  a  source  of 
much  anxiety  both  to  Captain  Preedy  and  Mr.  Moriarty, 
the  master.  The  heavy  rolling  had  strained  and  slack- 
ened the  wire  shrouds  to  such  an  extent  that  they  had 
become  perfectly  useless  as  supports.  The  lower  masts 
bent  visibly  at  every  roll,  and  once  or  twice  it  seemed  as 
if  they  must  go  by  the  board.  Unfortunately  nothing 
whatever  could  be  done  to  relieve  this  strain  by  sending 
down  any  of  the  upper  spars,  since  it  was  only  her  masts 
which  prevented  the  ship  rolling  still  more  and  quicker; 
and  so  every  one  knew  that  if  once  they  were  carried  away 
it  might  soon  be  all  over  with  the  ship,  as  then  the  deck 
coil  could  not  help  going  after  them.  So  there  was 
nothing  for  it  but  to  watch  in  anxious  silence  the  way 


ioo    THE   STORY   OF  THE    ATLANTIC   CABLE 

they  bent  and  strained,  and  trust  in  Providence  for  the 
result.  About  six  in  the  evening  it  was  thought  better 
to  "wear  ship "  again  and  stand  for  the  rendezvous  under 
easy  steam,  and  her  head  accordingly  was  put  about 
and  once  more  faced  the  storm.  As  she  went  round  she, 
of  course,  fell  into  the  trough  of  the  sea  again,  and  rolled 
so  awfully  as  to  break  her  waste-steampipe,  filling  her 
engine-room  with  steam,  and  depriving  her  of  the  services 
of  one  boiler  when  it  was  sorely  needed.  The  sun  set  upon 
as  wild  and  wicked  a  night  as  ever  taxed  the  courage  and 
coolness  of  a  sailor.  There  were,  of  course,  men  on  board 
who  were  familiar  with  gales  and  storms  in  all  parts  of  the 
world;  and  there  were  some  who  had  witnessed  the  tre- 
mendous hurricane  which  swept  the  Black  Sea  on  the 
memorable  14th  of  November,  when  scores  of  vessels  were 
lost  and  seamen  perished  by  the  thousands.  But  of  all  on 
board  none  had  ever  seen  a  fiercer  or  more  dangerous  sea 
than  raged  throughout  that  night  and  the  following  morn- 
ing, tossing  the  Agamemnon  from  side  to  side  like  a  mere 
plaything  among  the  waters.  The  night  was  thick  and 
very  dark,  the  low  black  clouds  almost  hemming  the 
vessel  in;  now  and  then  a  fiercer  blast  than  usual  drove 
the  great  masses  slowly  aside  and  showed  the  moon,  a  dim, 
greasy  blotch  upon  the  sky,  with  the  ocean,  white  as 
driven  snow,  boiling  and  seething  like  a  caldron.  But 
these  were  only  glimpses,  which  were  soon  lost,  and  again 
it  was  all  darkness,  through  which  the  waves,  suddenly 
upheaving,  rushed  upon  the  ship  as  though  they  must 
overwhelm  it,  and  dealing  it  one  staggering  blow,  went 
hissing  and  surging  past  into  the  darkness  again.  The 
grandeur  of  the  scene  was  almost  lost  in  its  dangers  and 
terrors,  for  of  all  the  many  forms  in  which  death  ap- 
proaches man  there  is  none  so  easy,  in  fact,  so  terrific  in 
appearance,  as  death  by  shipwreck. 

Sleeping  was  impossible  that  night  on  board  the  Aga- 
memnon. Even  those  in  cots  were  thrown  out,  from 
their  striking  against  the  vessel's  side  as  she  pitched. 
The  berths  of  wood  fixed  athwartships  in  the  cabins  on 
the  main  deck  had  worked  to  pieces.  Chairs  and  tables 
were  broken,  chests  of  drawers  capsized,  and  a  little  surf 


THE   STORM  101 

was  running  over  the  floors  of  the  cabins  themselves, 
pouring  miniature  seas  into  portmanteaus,  and  breaking 
over  carpetbags  of  clean  linen.  Fast  as  it  flowed  off  by 
the  scuppers  it  came  in  faster  by  the  hawse-holes  and 
ports,  while  the  beams  and  knees  strained  with  a  doleful 
noise,  as  though  it  was  impossible  they  could  hold  to- 
gether much  longer,  and  on  the  whole  it  was  as  miser- 
able and  even  anxious  a  night  as  ever  was  passed  on  board 
any  line-of-battle  ship  in  her  Majesty's  service.  Captain 
Preedy  never  left  the  poop  all  night,  though  it  was  hard 
work  to  remain  there,  even  holding  on  to  the  poop-rail 
with  both  hands.  Morning  brought  no  change,  save  that 
the  storm  was  as  fierce  as  ever,  and  though  the  sea  could 
not  be  higher  or  wilder,  yet  the  additional  amount  of 
broken  water  made  it  still  more  dangerous  to  the  ship. 
Very  dimly,  and  only  now  and  then  through  the  thick 
scud,  the  Niagara  could  be  seen — one  moment  on  a 
monstrous  hill  of  water,  and  the  next  quite  lost  to  view, 
as  the  Agamemnon  went  down  between  the  waves.  But 
even  these  glimpses  showed  us  that  our  transatlantic 
consort  was  plunging  heavily,  shipping  seas,  and  evi- 
dently having  a  bad  time  of  it,  though  she  got  through 
it  better  than  the  Agamemnon,  as,  of  course,  she  could, 
having  only  the  same  load,  though  2,000  tons  larger. 
Suddenly  it  came  on  darker  and  thicker,  and  we  lost 
sight  of  her  in  the  thick  spray,  and  had  only  ourselves  to 
look  after.  This  was  quite  enough,  for  every  minute 
made  matters  worse,  and  the  aspect  of  affairs  began  to 
excite  most  serious  misgivings  in  the  minds  of  those  in 
charge.  The  Agamemnon  is  one  of  the  finest  line-of- 
battle  ships  in  the  whole  navy,  but  in  such  a  storm,  and 
so  heavily  overladen,  what  could  she  do  but  make  bad 
weather  worse,  and  strain  and  labor  and  fall  into  the 
trough  of  the  sea,  as  if  she  were  going  down  head  fore- 
most. Three  or  four  hours  more  and  the  vessel  had 
borne  all  she  could  bear  with  safety.  The  masts  were 
rapidly  getting  worse,  the  deck  coil  worked  more  and 
more  with  each  tremendous  plunge,  and,  even  if  both 
these  held,  it  was  evident  that  the  ship  itself  would  soon 
strain  to  pieces  if  the  weather  continued  so.     The  sea, 


102    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

forcing  its  way  through  ports  and  hawse-holes,  had 
accumulated  on  the  lower  deck  to  such  an  extent  that  it 
flooded  the  stoke-hole,  so  that  the  men  could  scarcely 
remain  at  their  posts.  Everything  went  smashing  and 
rolling  about.  One  plunge  put  all  the  electrical  instru- 
ments hors  de  combat  at  a  blow,  and  staved  some  barrels 
of  strong  solution  of  sulphate  of  copper,  which  went 
cruising  about,  turning  all  it  touched  to  a  light  pea-green. 
By  and  by  she  began  to  ship  seas.  Water  came  down 
the  ventilators  near  the  funnel  into  the  engine-room. 
Then  a  tremendous  sea  struck  her  forward,  drenching 
those  on  deck,  and  leaving  them  up  to  their  knees  in 
water,  and  the  least  versed  on  board  could  see  that  things 
were  fast  going  to  the  bad  unless  a  change  took  place  in 
the  weather  or  the  condition  of  the  ship.  Of  the  first 
there  seemed  little  chance.  The  weather  certainly  showed 
no  disposition  to  clear — on  the  contrary,  livid-looking 
black  clouds  seemed  to  be  closing  round  the  vessel  faster 
and  faster  than  ever.  For  the  relief  of  the  ship  three 
courses  were  open  to  Captain  Preedy — one,  to  wear  round 
and  try  her  on  the  starboard  tack,  as  he  had  been  com- 
pelled to  do  the  day  before;  another,  to  fairly  run  for  it 
before  the  wind;  and,  third  and  last,  to  endeavor  to 
lighten  the  vessel  by  getting  some  of  the  cable  overboard. 
Of  course  the  latter  would  not  have  been  thought  of  till 
the  first  two  had  been  tried  and  failed — in  fact,  not  till 
it  was  evident  that  nothing  else  could  save  the  ship. 
Against  wearing  round  there  was  the  danger  of  her  again 
falling  off  into  the  trough  of  the  sea,  losing  her  masts, 
shifting  her  upper- deck  coil,  and  so  finding  her  way  to 
the  bottom  in  ten  minutes,  while  to  attempt  running 
before  the  storm  with  such  a  sea  on  was  to  risk  her  stern 
being  stove  in,  and  a  hundred  tons  of  water  added  to  her 
burden  with  each  wave  that  came  up  afterward,  till  the 
poor  Agamemnon  went  under  them  all  for  ever.  A  little 
after  ten  o'clock  on  Monday,  the  21st,  the  aspect  of  affairs 
was  so  alarming  that  Captain  Preedy  resolved  at  all  risks 
to  try  wearing  the  ship  round  on  the  other  tack.  It  was 
hard  enough  to  make  the  words  of  command  audible,  but 
to  execute  them  seemed  almost  impossible.     The  ship's 


THE   STORM  103 

nead  went  round  enough  to  leave  her  broadside  on  to  the 
seas,  and  then  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  nothing  could  be 
done.  All  the  rolls  which  she  had  ever  given  on  the 
previous  day  seemed  mere  trifles  compared  with  her  per- 
formances then.  Of  more  than  200  men  on  deck,  at  least 
150  were  thrown  down,  and  falling  over  from  side  to  side 
in  heaps,  while  others,  holding  on  to  the  ropes,  swung  to 


Fig.  27. — The  Agamemnon  Storm:  Coals  Adrift. 

and  fro  with  erery  heave.  It  really  appeared  as  if  the 
last  hour  of  the  stout  ship  had  come,  and  to  this  minute 
it  seems  almost  miraculous  that  her  masts  held  on.  Each 
time  she  fell  over  her  main  chains  went  deep  under  water. 
The  lower  decks  were  flooded,  and  those  above  could  hear 
by  the  fearful  crashing — audible  amid  the  hoarse  roar  of 
the  storm — that  the  coals  had  got  loose  again  below,  and 
had  broken  into  the  engine-room,  and  were  carrying  all 
before  them.  During  these  rolls  the  main-deck  coil 
shifted  over  to  such  a  degree  as  quite  to  envelop  four  men, 
who,  sitting  on  the  top,  were  trying  to  wedge  it  down 
with  beams.  One  of  them  was  so  much  jammed  by  the 
mass  which  came  over  him  that  he  was  seriously  contused. 
He  had  to  be  removed  to  the  sick-bay,  making  up  the 


104  THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

sick-list  to  forty -five,  of  which  ten  were  from  injuries 
caused  by  the  rolling  of  the  ship,  and  very  many  of  the 
rest  from  continual  fatigue  and  exposure  during  the  gale. 
Once  round  on  the  starboard  tack,  and  it  was  seen  in  an 
instant  that  the  ship  was  in  no  degree  relieved  by  the 
change.  Another  heavy  sea  struck  her  forward,  sweeping 
clean  over  the  fore  part  of  the  vessel  and  carrying  away 
the  woodwork  and  platforms  which  had  been  placed  there 
round  the  machinery  for  underrunning.  This  and  a  few 
more  plunges  were  quite  sufficient  to  settle  the  matter, 
and  at  last,  reluctantly,  Captain  Preedy  succumbed  to 
the  storm  he  could  neither  conquer  nor  contend  against. 
Full  steam  was  got  on,  and  with  a  foresail  and  a  fore- 
topsail  to  lift  her  head  the  Agamemnon  ran  before  the 
storm,  rolling  and  tumbling  over  the  huge  waves  at  a 
tremendous  pace.  It  was  well  for  all  that  the  wind  gave 
this  much  way  on  her,  or  her  stern  would  infallibly  have 
been  stove  in.  As  it  was,  a  wave  partly  struck  her  on  the 
starboard  quarter,  smashing  the  quarter-galley  and  ward- 
room windows  on  that  side,  and  sending  such  a  sea  into 
the  ward-room  itself  as  to  literally  wash  two  officers 
off  a  sofa  on  which  they  were  resting  on  that  side  of  the 
ship.  This  was  a  kind  of  parting  blow;  for  the  glass 
began  to  rise,  and  the  storm  was  evidently  beginning  to 
moderate,  and  although  the  sea  still  ran  as  high  as  ever 
there  was  less  broken  water,  and  altogether,  toward 
midday,  affairs  assumed  a  better  and  more  cheerful  aspect. 
The  ward-room  that  afternoon  was  a  study  for  an  artist, 
with  its  windows  halfdarkened  and  smashed,  the  sea- 
water  still  slushing  about  in  odd  corners,  with  everything 
that  was  capable  of  being  broken  strewn  over  the  floor  in 
pieces,  and  some  fifteen  or  twenty  officers,  seated  amid 
the  ruins,  holding  on  to  the  deck  or  table  with  one  hand, 
while  with  the  other  they  contended  at  a  disadvantage 
with  a  tough  meal — the  first  which  most  had  eaten  for 
twenty-four  hours.  Little  sleep  had  been  indulged  in 
though  much  "lolloping  about."  Those,  however,  who 
prepared  themselves  for  a  night's  rest  in  their  berths 
rather  than  at  the  ocean  bottom,  had  great  difficulty  in 
finding   their  day-garments  of   a  morning.     The   boots 


THE   RENEWED    EFFORT  105 

especially  went  astray,  and  got  so  hopelessly  mixed 
that  the  man  who  could  "show  up"  with  both  pairs  of 
his  own  was,  indeed,  a  man  to  be  congratulated. 

But  all  things  have  an  end,  and  this  long  gale — of 
over  a  week's  duration — at  last  blew  itself  out,  and  the 
weary  ocean  rocked  itself  to  rest. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  Monday  the  Agamemnon  ran 
before  the  wind,  which  moderated  so  much  that  at  4  a.m. 
on  Tuesday  her  head  was  again  put  about,  and  for  the 
second  time  she  commenced  beating  up  for  the  rendezvous, 
then  some  200  miles  farther  from  us  than  when  the  storm 
was  at  its  height  on  Sunday  morning.  So  little  was  gained 
against  this  wind  that  Friday  the  25th — sixteen  days  after 
leaving  Plymouth — still  found  us  some  fifty  miles  from 
the  rendezvous.  So  it  was  determined  to  get  up  steam  and 
run  down  on  it  at  once.  As  we  approached  the  place  of 
meeting  the  angry  sea  went  down.  The  Valorous  hove 
in  sight  at  noon;  in  the  afternoon  the  Niagara  came  in 
from  the  north;  and  at  even  the  Gorgon  from  the  south: 
and  then,  almost  for  the  first  time  since  starting,  the 
squadron  was  reunited  near  the  spot  where  the  great  work 
was  to  have  commenced  fifteen  days  previously — as  tran- 
quil in  the  middle  of  the  Atlantic  as  if  in  Plymouth  Sound. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  RENEWED  EFFORT 

That  evening  the  four  vessels  lay  together  side 
by  side,  and  there  was  such  a  stillness  in  the  sea 
and  air  as  would  have  seemed  remarkable  even  on 
an  inland  lake.  On  the  Atlantic,  and  after  what 
had  been  so  lately  experienced,  it  seemed  almost 
unnatural. 

The  boats  were  out,  and  the  officers  were  pass- 


Xo6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

ing  from  ship  to  ship,  telling  their  experiences  of 
the  voyage,  and  forming  plans  for  the  morrow. 
The  captain  of  the  Agamemnon  had  a  sorry  tale 
to  tell.  The  strain  to  which  she  had  been  sub- 
jected had  opened  her  "waterways."*  Then, 
again,  one  of  the  crew,  a  marine,  had  been  liter- 
ally frightened  out  of  his  wits,  and  remained  crazy 
for  some  days.  One  man  had  his  arm  fractured 
in  two  places,  and  another  his  leg  broken. 

The  Niagara,  on  the  other  hand,  had  weathered 
the  gale  splendidly,  though  it  had  been  a  hard 
and  anxious  time  with  her,  as  well  as  with  the 
smaller  craft.  She  had  lost  her  jib-boom,  and  the 
buoys  she  carried  for  suspending  the  cable  had 
been  washed  from  her  sides — no  man  knew  where. 

After  taking  stock  of  things  generally,  a  start 
was  made  to  repair  the  various  damages ;  but  the 
shifting  of  the  upper  part  of  the  main  coil  on  the 
Agamemnon  into  a  hopeless  tangle  entailed  re- 
coiling a  considerable  length  of  cable,  a  no  light 
task,  occupying  several  days. 

On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  June  26th,  all 
the  preparations  were  completed  for  making  the 
splice  and  once  more  commencing  the  great  un- 
dertaking. 

In  the  words  of  The  Times  representative : 

The  end  of  the  Niagara's  cable  was  sent  on  board  the 
Agamemnon,  the  splice  was  made,  a  bent  sixpence  put  in 
for  luck,  and  at  2.50  Greenwich  time  it  was  slowly  lowered 
over  the  side  and  disappeared  forever.  The  weather  was 
cold  and  foggy,  with  a  stiff  breeze  and  dismal  sort  of  sleet, 
and  as  there  was  no  cheering  or  manifestation  of  enthu- 
siasm of  any  kind,  the  whole  ceremony  had  a  most  funereal 
effect,  and  seemed   as   solemn   as  if  we  were  burying  a 

*  When  these  part  to  any  extent  a  ship  is  always  considered 
in  a  dangerous  condition. 


THE   RENEWED    EFFORT  107 

marine,  or  some  other  mortuary  task  of  the  kind  equally 
cheerful  and  enlivening.  As  it  turned  out,  however,  it 
was  just  as  well  that  no  display  took  place,  as  every  one 
would  have  looked  uncommonly  silly  when  the  same  opera- 
tion came  to  be  repeated,  as  it  had  to  be,  an  hour  or  so 
afterward.  It  is  needless  making  a  long  story  longer, 
so  I  may  state  at  once  that  when  each  ship  had  paid  out 
three  miles  or  so,  and  they  were  getting  well  apart,  the 
cable,  which  had  been  allowed  to  run  too  slack,  broke  on 
board  the  Niagara  owing  to  its  overriding  and  getting 
off  the  pulley  leading  on  to  the  machine. 

The  break  was  of  course  known  instantly,  both 
vessels  put  about  and  returned,  a  fresh  splice  was  made, 
and  again  lowered  over  at  half  past  seven.  According  to 
arrangement,  150  fathoms  were  veered  out  from  each  ship, 
and  then  all  stood  away  on  their  course,  at  first  at  two 
miles  an  hour,  and  afterward  at  four.  Everything  then 
went  well,  the  machine  working  beautifully,  at  thirty-two 
revolutions  per  minute,  the  screw  at  twenty-six,  the 
cable  running  out  easily  at  five  and  five  and  a  half  miles 
an  hour,  the  ship  going  four.  The  greatest  strain  upon 
the  dynamometer  was  2,500  lbs.,  and  this  was  only  for 
a  few  minutes,  the  average  giving  only  2,000  lbs.  and 
2,100  lbs.  At  midnight  twenty-one  nautical  miles  had 
been  paid  out,  and  the  angle  of  the  cable  with  the  horizon 
had  been  reduced  considerably.  At  about  half  past 
three  forty  miles  had  gone,  and  nothing  could  be  more 
perfect  and  regular  than  the  working  of  everything, 
when  suddenly,  at  3.40  a.m.  on  Sunday,  the  27th,  Pro- 
fessor Thomson  came  on  deck  and  reported  a  total  break 
of  continuity;  that  the  cable,  in  fact,  had  parted,  and 
as  was  believed  at  the  time,  from  the  Niagara.  The 
Agamemnon  was  instantly  stopped  and  the  brakes  applied 
to  the  machinery,  in  order  that  the  cable  paid  out  might 
be  severed  from  the  mass  in  the  hold,  and  so  enable 
Professor  Thomson  to  discover  by  electrical  tests  at  about 
what  distance  from  the  ship  the  fracture  had  taken  place.* 

*  By  subsequent  tests  it  was  clear  that  at  any  rate  the 
cable    remaining   on    board   was    perfect.     But    after   com- 


108     THE    STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

Unfortunately,  however,  there  was  a  strong  breeze  on  at 
the  time,  with  rather  a  heavy  swell,  which  told  severely 
upon  the  cable,  and  before  any  means  could  be  taken  to 
ease  entirely  the  motion  on  the  ship,  it  parted  a  few 
fathoms  below  the  stern -wheel,  the  dynamometer  indicating 
a  strain  of  nearly  4,000  lbs.  In  another  instant  a  gun 
and  a  blue  light  warned  the  Valorous  of  what  had  hap- 
pened, and  roused  all  on  board  the  Agamemnon  to  a 
knowledge  that  the  machinery  was  silent,  and  that  the 
first  part  of  the  Atlantic  cable  had  been  laid  and  effectu- 
ally lost. 

The  great  length  of  cable  on  board  both  ships  allowed 
a  large  margin  for  such  mishaps  as  these,  and  the  arrange- 
ment made  before  leaving  England  was  that  the  splices 
might  be  renewed  and  the  work  recommenced  till  each 
ship  had  lost  250  miles  of  wire,  after  which  they  were  to 
discontinue  their  efforts  and  return  to  Queenstown.  Ac- 
cordingly, after  the  breakage  on  Sunday  morning,  the 
ships'  heads  were  put  about,  and  for  the  fourth  time  the 
Agamemnon  again  began  the  weary  work  of  beating  up 
against  the  wind  for  that  everlasting  rendezvous  which  we 
seemed  destined  to  be  always  seeking.  Apart  from  the 
regret  with  which  all  regarded  the  loss  of  the  cable,  there 
were  other  reasons  for  not  wishing  the  cruise  to  be  thus 
indefinitely  prolonged,  since  there  had  been  a  break  in  the 
continuity  of  the  fresh  provisions;  and  for  some  days 
previously  in  the  ward-room  the  pieces  de  resistance  had 
been  inflammatory-looking  morceaux,  salted  to  an  as- 
tonishing pitch,  and  otherwise  uneatable,  for  it  was  beef 
which  had  been  kept  three  years  beyond  its  warranty 
for  soundness,  and  to  which  all  were  then  reduced. 

It  was  hard  work  beating  up  against  the  wind;  so 
hard,  indeed,  that  it  was  not  till  the  noon  of  Monday,  the 
28th,  that  we  again  met  the  Niagara;  and  while  all  were 
waiting  with  impatience  for  her  explanation  of  how  she 
broke  the  cable,  she  electrified  every  one  by  running  up  the 
interrogatory,  "How    did  the   cable    part?"     This   was 

paring  notes  with  the  Niagara,  a  strong  belief  was  held  that 
the  cable  probably  parted  at  the  bottom. 


THE  RENEWED   EFFORT  109 

astounding.  As  soon  as  the  boats  could  be  lowered,  Mr. 
Cyrus  Field,  with  the  electricians  from  the  Niagara,  came 
on  board,  and  a  comparison  of  logs  showed  the  painful 
and  mysterious  fact  that  at  the  same  second  of  time  each 
vessel  discovered  that  a  total  fracture  had  taken  place  at  a 
distance  of  certainly  not  less  than  ten  miles  from  each  ship, 
as  well  as  could  be  judged,  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean. 
The  logs  on  both  sides  were  so  clear  as  to  the  minute  of 
time,  and  as  to  the  electrical  tests  showing  not  merely 
leakage  or  defective  insulations  of  the  wire,  but  a  total 
fracture,  that  there  was  no  room  left  on  which  to  rest  a 
moment's  doubt  of  the  certainty  of  this  most  disheartening 
fact.  That  of  all  the  many  mishaps  connected  with  the 
Atlantic  telegraph,  this  was  the  worst  and  most  dis- 
heartening, since  it  proved  that  after  all  that  human  skill 
and  science  can  effect  to  lay  the  wire  down  with  safety  has 
been  accomplished,  there  may  be  some  fatal  obstacles  to 
success  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  which  can  never  be 
guarded  against,  for  even  the  nature  of  the  peril  must 
always  remain  as  secret  and  unknown  as  the  depths  in 
which  it  is  to  be  encountered.  Was  the  bottom  covered 
with  a  soft  coating  of  ooze,  in  which  it  had  been  said  the 
cable  might  rest  undisturbed  for  years  as  on  a  bed  of 
down  ?  or  were  there,  after  all,  sharp-pointed  rocks  lying 
on  that  supposed  plateau  of  Maury,  Berryman,  and 
Dayman?  These  were  the  questions  that  some  of  those 
on  board  were  asking. 

But  there  was  no  use  in  further  conjecture  or  in  re- 
pining over  what  had  already  happened.  Though  the 
prospect  of  success  appeared  to  be  considerably  impaired 
it  was  generally  considered  that  there  was  but  one  course 
left,  and  that  was  to  splice  again  and  make  another — 
and  what  was  fondly  hoped  would  be  a  final — attempt. 
Accordingly  no  time  was  lost  in  making  the  third  splice, 
which  was  lowered  over  into  2,000  fathoms  of  water  at 
seven  o'clock  by  ship's  time  the  same  night.  Before 
steaming  away,  as  the  Agamemnon  was  now  getting  very 
short  of  coal,  and  the  two  vessels  had  some  100  miles  of 
surplus  cable  between  them,  it  was  agreed  that  if  the  wire 
parted  again  before  the  ships  had  gone  each  100  miles 


no  THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

from  the  rendezvous  they  were  to  return  and  make  another 
splice;  and  as  the  Agamemnon  was  to  sail  back,  the  Ni- 
agara, it  was  decided,  was  to  wait  eight  days  for  her  ap- 
pearance. If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  ioo  miles  had  been 
exceeded,  the  ships  were  not  to  return,  but  each  make  the 
best  of  its  way  to  Queenstown.  With  this  understanding 
the  ships  again  parted,  and,  with  the  wire  dropping  stead- 
ily down  between  them,  the  Niagara  and  Agamemnon 
steamed  away,  and  were  soon  lost  in  the  cold,  raw  fog, 
which  had  hung  over  the  rendezvous  ever  since  the  oper- 
ations had  commenced. 

"The  cable,  as  before,  paid  out  beautifully,  and  nothing 
could  have  been  more  regular  and  more  easy  than  the 
working  of  every  part  of  the  apparatus.  At  first  the  ship's 
speed  was  only  two  knots,  the  cable  going  three  and  three 
and  a  half  with  a  strain  of  1,50c  lbs.,  the  horizontal  angle 
averaging  as  low  as  seven  and  the  vertical  about  sixteen. 
By  and  by,  however,  the  speed  was  increased  to  four 
knots,  the  cable  going  five,  at  a  strain  of  2,000  lbs.,  and  an 
angle  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen.  At  this  rate  it  was  kept 
with  trifling  variations  throughout  the  whole  of  Monday 
night,  and  neither  Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Canning,  nor  Mr.  Clif- 
ford ever  quitted  the  machines  for  an  instant.  Toward 
the  middle  of  the  night,  while  the  rate  of  the  ship  continued 
the  same,  the  speed  at  which  the  cable  paid  out  slackened 
nearly  a  knot,  while  the  dynamometer  indicated  as  low  as 
1,300  lbs.  This  change  could  only  be  accounted  for  on  the 
supposition  that  the  water  had  shallowed  to  a  considerable 
extent,  and  that  the  vessel  was  in  fact  passing  over  some 
submarine  Ben  Nevis  or  Skiddaw.  After  an  interval  of 
about  an  hour  the  strain  and  rate  of  progress  of  the  cable 
again  increased,  while  the  increase  of  the  vertical  angle 
seemed  to  indicate  that  the  wire  was  sinking  down  the 
side  of  a  declivity.  Beyond  this  there  was  no  variation 
throughout  Monday  night,  or  indeed  through  Tuesday. 
The  upper-deck  coil,  which  had  weighed  so  heavily  upon 
the  ship — and  still  more  heavily  upon  the  minds  of  all 
during  the  past  storms — was  fast  disappearing,  and  by 
twelve  at  midday  on  Tuesday,  the  29th,  seventy-six  miles 
had  been  paid  out  to  something  like  sixty  miles'  progress  of 


THE   RENEWED   EFFORT  III 

the  ship.  Warned  by  repeated  failures,  many  of  those  on 
board  scarcely  dared  hope  for  success.  Still  the  spirits  of 
all  rose  as  the  distance  widened  between  the  ships.  Things 
were  going  in  splendid  style — in  such  splendid  style  that 
"stock  had  gone  up  nearly  ioo  per  cent."  Those  who  had 
leisure  for  sleep  were  able  to  dream  about  cable-laying  and 
the  terrible  effects  of  too  great  a  strain.  The  first  question 
which  such  as  these  ask  on  awakening  is  about  the  cable, 
and  on  being  informed  that  it  is  all  right,  satisfaction 
ensues  until  the  appearance  of  breakfast,  when  it  is  pre- 
sumed this  feeling  is  intensified.  For  those  who  do  not 
derive  any  particular  pleasure  from  the  mere  asking  of 
questions,  the  harmonious  music  made  by  the  paying-out 
machine  during  its  revolutions  supplies  the  information. 

Then  again,  the  electrical  continuity — after  all,  the  most 
important  item — was  perfect,  and  the  electricians  reported 
that  the  signals  passing  between  the  ships  were  eminently 
satisfactory.  The  door  of  the  testing-room  is  almost 
always  shut,  and  the  electricians  pursue  their  work  undis- 
turbed; but  it  is  impossible  to  exclude  that  spirit  of 
scientific  inquiry  which  will  satiate  its  thirst  for  informa- 
tion even  through  a  keyhole. 

Further,  the  weather  was  all  that  could  be  wished  for. 
Indeed,  had  the  poet  who  was  so  anxious  for  "  life  on  the 
ocean  wave  and  a  home  on  the  rolling  deep"  been  aboard, 
he  would  have  been  absolutely  happy,  and  perhaps  even 
more  desirous  for  a  fixed  habitation. 

The  only  cause  that  warranted  anxiety  was  that  it 
was  evident  the  upper-deck  coil  would  be  finished  by 
about  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  when  the  men  would  have 
to  pass  along  in  darkness  the  great  loop  which  formed  the 
communication  between  that  and  the  coil  in  the  main 
hold.  This  was  most  unfortunate;  but  the  operation  had 
been  successfully  performed  in  daylight  during  the  ex- 
perimental trip  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  every  precaution 
was  now  taken  that  no  accident  should  occur.  At  nine 
o'clock  by  ship's  time,  when  146  miles  had  been  paid  out 
and  about  112  miles'  distance  from  the  rendezvous  accom- 
plished, the  last  flake  but  one  of  the  upper-deck  coil  came 
in  turn  to  be  used.     In  order  to  make  it  easier  in  passing 


H2    THE   STORY    OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

to  the  main  coil  the  revolutions  of  the  screw  were  reduced 
gradually,  by  two  revolutions  at  a  time  from  thirty  to 
twenty,  while  the  paying-out  machine  went  slowly  from 
thirty-six  to  twenty-two.  At  this  rate  the  vessel  going 
three  knots  and  the  cable  three  and  a  half,  the  operation 
was  continued  with  perfect  regularity,  the  dynamometer 
indicating  a  strain  of  2,100  lbs.  Suddenly  without  an 
instant's  warning,  or  the  occurrence  of  any  single  incident 
that  could  account  for  it,  the  cable  parted  when  subjected 
to  a  strain  of  less  than  a  ton.*  The  gun  that  again  told 
the  Valorous  of  this  fatal  mishap  brought  all  on  board 
the  Agamemnon  rushing  to  the  deck,  for  none  could 
believe  the  rumor  that  had  spread  like  wildfire  about 
the  ship.  But  there  stood  the  machinery,  silent  and 
motionless,  while  the  fractured  end  of  the  wire  hung  over 
the  stern-wheel,  swinging  loosely  to  and  fro.  It  seemed 
almost  impossible  to  realize  the  fact  that  an  accident  so 
instantaneous  and  irremediable  should  have  occurred,  and 
at  a  time  when  all  seemed  to  be  going  on  so  well.  Of 
course  a  variety  of  ingenious  suggestions  were  soon  afloat, 
showing  most  satisfactorily  how  the  cable  must  and  ought 
to  have  broken.  There  was  a  regular  gloom  that  night 
on  board  the  Agamemnon,  for  from  first  to  last  the  success 
of  the  expedition  had  been  uppermost  in  the  thoughts  of 
all,  and  all  had  labored  for  it  early  and  late,  contending 
with  every  danger  and  overcoming  every  obstacle  and 
disaster  that  had  marked  each  day,  with  an  earnestness 
and  devotion  of  purpose  that  is  really  beyond  all  praise. 

Immediately  after  the  mishap,  a  brief  consultation 
was  held  by  those  in  charge  on  board  the  Agamemnon, 
and  as  it  was  shown  that  they  had  only  exceeded  the 
distance  from  the  rendezvous  by  fourteen  miles,  and  that 
there  was  still  more  cable  on  board  the  two  vessels  than 
the  amount  with  which  the  original  expedition  last  year 
was  commenced,  it  was  determined  to  try  for  another 
chance  and  return  to  the  rendezvous,   sailing  there,  of 

*  This  was  from  the  last  turn  in  the  coil,  and  subsequently 
it  was  discovered  that  owing  to  the  disturbance  in  the  flooring 
of  the  tank  during  the  storm,  the  cable  had  been  damaged 
here. 


THE  RENEWED   EFFORT  1 13 

course;  for  Mr.  Brown,  the  chief  engineer,  as  ultrazealous 
in  the  cause  as  a  board  of  directors,  guarded  the  coal- 
bunkers  like  a  very  dragon,  lest,  if  in  coming  to  paying 
out  the  cable  again,  steam  should  run  short,  thereby 
endangering  the  success  of  the  whole  undertaking. 

For  the  fifth  time,  therefore,  the  Agamemnon's  head 
went  about,  and  after  twenty  days  at  sea  she  again  began 
beating  up  against  the  wind  for  the  rendezvous  to  try,  if 
possible,  to  recommence  her  labors.  The  following  day 
the  wind  was  blowing  from  the  southwest,  with  mist 
and  rain,  and  Thursday,  July  1st,  gave  every  one 
the  most  unfavorable  opinion  of  July  weather  in  the 
Atlantic.  The  wind  and  sea  were  both  high — the  wet 
fog  so  dense  that  one  could  scarcely  see  the  mastheads, 
while  the  damp  cold  was  really  biting.  Altogether  it  was 
an  atmosphere  of  which  a  Londoner  would  have  been 
ashamed  even  in  November.  Later  in  the  day  a  heavy 
sea  got  on;  the  wind  increased  without  dissipating  the 
fog,  and  it  was  double-reefed  topsails  and  pitching  and 
rolling  as  before.  However,  the  upper-deck  coil  of  250 
tons  being  gone,  the  Agamemnon  was  as  buoyant  as  a 
lifeboat,  and  no  one  cared  how  much  she  took  to  kicking 
about,  though  the  cold  wet  fog  was  a  miserable  nuisance, 
penetrating  everywhere  and  making  the  ship  as  wet  inside 
as  out.  What  made  the  matter  worse  was  that  in  such 
weather  there  seemed  no  chance  of  meeting  the  Niagara 
unless  she  ran  into  us,  when  cable-laying  would  have  gone 
on  wholesale.  In  order  to  avoid  such  a  contretemps,  and 
also  to  inform  the  Valorous  of  our  whereabouts,  guns 
were  fired,  fog-bells  rung,  and  the  bugler  stationed  for- 
ward to  warn  the  other  vessels  of  our  vicinity.  Friday 
was  the  ditto  of  Thursday  and  Saturday,  worse  than  both 
together,  for  it  almost  blew  a  gale  and  there  was  a  heavy 
sea  on.  On  Sunday,  the  4th,  it  cleared,  and  the  Aga- 
memnon for  the  first  time  during  the  whole  cruise,  reached 
the  actual  rendezvous  and  fell  in  with  the  Valorous, 
which  had  been  there  since  Friday,  the  2d,  but  the  fog 
must  have  been  even  thicker  there  than  elsewhere,  for 
she  had  scarcely  seen  herself,  much  less  anything  else  till 
Sunday. 

8 


ti4    THE  STORY   OF  THE  ATLANTIC   CABLE 

During  the  remainder  of  that  day  and  Monday,  when 
the  weather  was  very  clear,  both  ships  cruised  over  the 
place  of  meeting,  but  neither  the  Niagara  nor  Gorgon  was 
there,  though  day  and  night  the  lookout  for  them  was 
constant  and  incessant.  It  was  evident  then  that  the 
Niagara  had  rigidly,  but  most  unfortunately,  adhered  to 
the  mere  letter  of  the  agreement  regarding  the  ioo  miles, 
and  after  the  last  fracture  had  at  once  turned  back  for 
Queenstown.  On  Tuesday,  the  6th,  therefore,  as  the 
dense  fogs  and  winds  set  in  again  it  was  agreed  between 
the  Valorous  and  Agamemnon  to  return  once  more  to  the 
rendezvous.  But  as  usual  the  fog  was  so  thick  that  the 
whole  American  navy  might  have  been  cruising  there 
unobserved  ;  so  the  search  was  given  up,  and  at  eight 
o'clock  that  night  the  ship's  head  was  turned  for  Cork, 
and,  under  all  sail,  the  Agamemnon  at  last  stood  home- 
ward. The  voyage  home  was  made  with  ease  and 
swiftness  considering  the  lightness  of  the  wind,  the  trim 
of  the  ship,  and  that  she  only  steamed  three  days,  and  at 
midday  on  Tuesday,  July  12th,  the  Agamemnon  cast 
anchor  in  Queenstown  harbor,  having  met  with  more 
dangerous  weather,  and  encountered  more  mishaps  than 
often  falls  to  the  lot  of  any  ship  in  a  cruise  of  thirty-three 
days. 

Thus  ends  the  most  arduous  and  dangerous  ex- 
pedition that  had  ever  been  experienced  in  con- 
nection with  cable-work.  It,  at  any  rate,  had  the 
advantage  of  supplying  the  public  with  some  ex- 
citing reading  in  the  columns  of  The  Times, 
whose  graphic  descriptions  were  much  appre- 
ciated. 

The  Niagara  had  reached  Queenstown  as  far 
back  as  July  5th.  Having  found  that  they  had 
run  out  109  miles  when  "continuity"  ceased,  those 
in  charge  considered  that,  in  order  to  carry  out 
their  instructions,  they  should  return  at  once  to 
the  above  port,  which  they  did. 


"FINIS    CORONAT   OPUS"  H5 

On  the  two  ships  meeting  at  Queenstown,  dis- 
cussion immediately  took  place  (1)  as  to  the 
cause  of  the  cessation  of  "continuity";  and  (2) 
regarding  the  course  taken  by  the  Niagara  in  re- 
turning home  so  promptly. 

The  non-arrival  of  the  Agamemnon  till  nearly 
a  week  later  had  been  the  cause  of  much  alarm 
regarding  her  safety. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

"FINIS  CORONAT  OPUS" 

Renewed  "Stock -Taking "—The  Last  Start— Successful 
Termination — General  Surprise  and  Applause 

The  sad  tale  of  disaster  commenced  to  spread 
abroad  immediately  on  the  Niagara's  arrival  in 
Queenstown;  and  when  Mr.  Field  hastened  to 
London  to  meet  the  other  directors  of  the  com- 
pany, he  found  that  the  news  had  not  only  pre- 
ceded him,  but  had  already  had  its  effect. 

The  Board  was  soon  called  together.  It  met  as 
a  council  of  war  summoned  after  a  terrific  defeat 
to  decide  whether  to  surrender  or  to  try  once  more 
the  chances  of  battle.  Says  Field :  "Most  of  the 
directors  looked  blankly  in  one  another's  faces." 
With  some  the  feeling  was  one  akin  to  despair. 
It  was  thought  by  many  that  there  was  nothing 
left  on  which  to  found  an  expectation  of  future 
success,  or  to  encourage  the  expenditure  of  fur- 
ther capital  upon  an  adventure  so  "completely 
visionary."  The  chairman  (Sir  William  Brown), 
while  recommending  entire  abandonment  of  the 
undertaking,  suggested  "a  sale  of  the  cable  re- 


n6    THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

maining  on  board  the  ships,  and  a  distribution  of 
the  proceeds  among  the  shareholders." 

Bolder  counsels  were,  however,  destined  to 
prevail.  There  were  those  who  thought  there 
was  still  a  chance,  like  Robert  Bruce,  who,  after 
twelve  battles  and  twelve  defeats,  yet  believed 
that  a  thirteenth  might  bring  victory,  notwith- 
standing the  prejudice  held  by  some  against  that 
number.  The  projectors  made  a  firm  stand  for 
immediate  action,  as  did  also  Professor  Thomson 
and  Mr.  Curtis  Lampson,  who  succeeded  Mr. 
Brooking  as  deputy  chairman,  at  the  same  time 
that  Mr.  Stuart  Wortley  took  the  chair  in  place 
of  Sir  W.  Brown,  on  the  latter's  resignation. 
These  advocates  of  non-surrender  succeeded  at 
length  in  carrying  an  order  for  the  immediate 
sailing  of  the  expedition  for  a  final  effort.  It  was 
this  effort  which  proved  to  the  world  the  possi- 
bility of  telegraphing  from  one  hemisphere  to  the 
other. 

The  order  to  advance  having  been  given,  the 
ships  forthwith  took  in  coal  and  other  necessaries. 

When  everything  and  everybody  had  been 
shipped,  the  squadron  left  Queenstown  once  more 
on  Saturday,  July  17,  1858.  As  the  ships  sailed 
out  of  the  harbor  of  Cork,  it  was  with  none  of  the 
enthusiasm  which  attended  their  departure  from 
Valentia  the  year  before,  or  even  the  small 
amount  excited  when  leaving  Plymouth  on  June 
10th.  Nobody  so  much  as  cheered.  In  fact, 
their  mission  was  by  this  time  spoken  of  as  a 
"mad  freak  of  stubborn  ignorance,"  and  "was  re- 
garded with  mixed  feelings  of  derision  and 
pity."* 

The  squadron  was  the  same  as  on  the  last  occa- 

*  Life-Story   of   Sir    Charles    Bright. 


"FINIS   CORONAT   OPUS"  117 

sion.  It  was  agreed  that  the  ships  should  not 
attempt  to  keep  together  this  time,  but  that  each 
should  make  its  way  to  the  given  latitude  and 
longitude.  The  staffs  were  composed  and  berthed 
as  before.  Moreover,  the  expedition  was  again 
accompanied  by  the  same  literary  talent. 

The  Last  Start. — Let  us  now  turn  to  The  Times 
narrative,  as  given  at  the  conclusion  of  this  final 
expedition : 

As  the  ships  left  the  harbor  there  was  apparently  no 
notice  taken  of  their  departure  by  those  on  shore  or  in  the 
vessels  anchored  around  them.  Every  one  seemed  im- 
pressed with  the  conviction  that  we  were  engaged  in  a 
hopeless  enterprise;  and  the  squadron  seemed  rather  to 
have  slunk  away  on  some  discreditable  mission  than  to 
have  sailed  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  grand  national 
scheme.  It  was  just  dawn  when  the  Agamemnon  got 
clear  of  Queenstown  harbor,  but,  as  the  wind  blew  stiff 
from  the  southwest,  it  was  nearly  ten  o'clock  before  she 
rounded  the  Old  Head  of  Kinsale,  a  distance  of  only  a  few 
miles.  The  weather  remained  fine  during  the  day;  and 
as  the  Agamemnon  skirted  along  the  wild  and  rocky  shore 
of  the  southwest  coast  of  Ireland,  those  on  board  had  an 
excellent  opportunity  of  seeing  the  stupendous  rocks 
which  rise  from  the  water  in  the  most  grotesque  and  fan- 
tastic shapes.  About  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  Cape 
Clear  was  passed,  and  though  the  coast  gradually  edged 
away  to  the  northward  of  our  course,  yet  it  was  nearly 
dark  before  we  lost  sight  of  the  rocky  mountains  which 
surround  Bantry  Bay  and  the  shores  of  the  Kenmare 
River.  By  Monday,  the  19th,  we  had  left  the  land  far 
behind  us,  and  thence  fell  into  the  usual  dull  monotony 
of  sea  life. 

Of  the  voyage  out  there  is  little  to  be  said.  It  was 
not  checkered  by  the  excitement  of  continual  storms  or 
the  tedium  of  perpetual  calms,  but  we  had  a  sufficient 
admixture  of  both  to  render  our  passage  to  the  rendezvous 
a  very  ordinary  and  uninteresting  one.     For  the  first  week 


n8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

the  barometer  remained  unusually  low,  and  the  numbers 
of  those  natural  barometers — Mother  Carey's  chickens — 
that  kept  in  our  wake  kept  us  in  continual  expectation  of 
heavy  weather.  With  very  little  breeze  or  wind,  the 
screw  was  got  up  and  sail  made,  so  as  to  husband  our  coals 
as  much  as  possible;  but  it  generally  soon  fell  calm,  and 
obliged  Captain  Preedy  reluctantly  to  get  up  steam  again. 
In  consequence  of  continued  delays  and  changes  from 
steam  to  sail,  and  from  sail  to  steam  again,  much  fuel 
was  expended,  and  not  more  than  eighty  miles  of  distance 
made  good  each  day.  On  Sunday,  the  25th,  however,  the 
weather  changed,  and  for  several  days  in  succession  there 
was  an  uninterrupted  calm.  The  moon  was  just  at  the 
full,  and  for  several  nights  it  shone  with  a  brilliancy 
which  turned  the  smooth  sea  into  one  silvery  sheet,  which 
brought  out  the  dark  hull  and  white  sails  of  the  ship  in 
strong  contrast  to  the  sea  and  sky  as  the  vessel  lay  all  but 
motionless  on  the  water,  the  very  impersonation  of  soli- 
tude and  repose.  Indeed,  until  the  rendezvous  was  gained, 
we  had  such  a  succession  of  beautiful  sunrises,  gorgeous 
sunsets,  and  tranquil  moonlight  nights  as  would  have 
excited  the  most  enthusiastic  admiration  of  any  one  but 
persons  situated  as  we  were.  But  by  us  such  scenes  were 
regarded  only  as  the  annoying  indications  of  the  calm 
which  delayed  our  progress  and  wasted  our  coals.  To  say 
that  it  was  calm  is  not  doing  full  justice  to  it;  there  was 
not  a  breath  in  the  air,  and  the  water  was  as  smooth  as  a 
mill-pond.  Even  the  wake  of  the  ship  scarce  ruffled  the 
surface;  and  the  gulls  which  had  visited  us  almost  daily, 
and  to  which  our  benevolent  liberality  had  dispensed 
innumerable  pieces  of  pork,  threw  an  almost  unbroken 
shadow  upon  it  as  they  stooped  in  their  flight  to  pick  up 
the  largest  and  most  tempting.  It  was  generally  re- 
marked that  cable-laying  under  such  circumstances  would 
be  mere  child's  play. 

In  spite  of  the  unusual  calmness  of  the  weather  in 
general,  there  were  days  on  which  our  former  unpleasant 
experiences  of  the  Atlantic  were  brought  forcibly  to  our 
recollection,  when  it  blew  hard  and  the  sea  ran  sufficiently 
high  to  reproduce  on  a  minor  scale  some  of  the  discomforts 


"FINIS   CORONAT   OPUS"  119 

of  which  the  previous  cruise  had  been  so  fruitful.  Those 
days,  however,  were  the  exception  and  not  the  rule,  and 
served  to  show  how  much  more  pleasant  was  the  incon- 
venient calm  than  the  weather  which  had  previously 
prevailed. 

The  precise  point  of  the  rendezvous — marked  by  a  dot 
on  the  chart — was  reached  on  the  evening  of  Wednesday, 
July  28th,  just  eleven  days  after  our  departure  from 
Queenstown.  The  voyage  out  was  a  lazy  one.  Now 
things  are  different,  and  we  no  longer  hear  of  the  pros- 
pects of  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  the  romances  and 
novels  which  have  formed  the  staple  food  for  animated 
discussion  for  some  days  past.  The  rest  of  the  squadron 
were  in  sight  at  nightfall,  but  at  such  a  considerable 
distance  that  it  was  past  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
Thursday  the  29th,  before  the  Agamemnon  joined  them. 
Some  time  previous  to  reaching  the  rendezvous  the 
engineer-in-chief  (Mr.  Bright)  went  up  in  the  shrouds 
on  the  lookout  for  the  other  ships,  and  accordingly  had 
to  "pay  his  footing" — much  to  the  amusement  of  his 
staff.  Most  of  them  being  more  advanced  in  years  would 
not  probably  have  been  so  equal  to  the  task  in  an  athletic 
sense. 

After  the  ordinary  laconic  conversation  which  charac- 
terize code  flag-signals,  we  were  as  usual  greeted  by  a  per- 
fect storm  of  questions  as  to  what  had  kept  us  so  much 
behind  our  time,  and  learned  that  all  had  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  ship  must  have  got  on  shore  on  leaving 
Queenstown  harbor.  The  Niagara,  it  appeared,  had 
arrived  at  the  rendezvous  on  Friday  night,  the  23d,  the 
Valorous  on  Sunday,  the  25th,  and  the  Gorgon  on  the 
afternoon  of  Tuesday,  the  27th. 

The  day  was  beautifully  calm,  so  no  time  was  to  be 
lost  before  making  the  splice  in  lat.  520  9/  N.,  long.  320  27' 
W.,  and  soundings  of  1,500  fathoms.  Boats  were  soon 
lowered  from  the  attendant  ships;  the  two  vessels  made 
fast  by  a  hawser,  and  the  Niagara's  end  of  the  cable 
conveyed  on  board  the  Agamemnon.  About  half -past 
twelve  o'clock  the  splice  was  effectually  made,  but  with  a 
very  different  frame  from  the  carefully  rounded  semi- 


120    THE   STORY   OF  THE    ATLANTIC    CABLE 

circular  boards  which  had  been  used  to  enclose  the  junc- 
tions on  previous  occasions.  It  consisted  merely  of  two 
straight  boards  hauled  over  the  joint  and  splice,  with  the 
iron  rod  and  leaden  plummet  attached  to  the  center.  In 
hoisting  it  out  from  the  side  of  the  ship,  however,  the 
leaden  sinker  broke  short  off  and  fell  overboard.  There 
being  no  more  convenient  weight  at  hand  a  3 2 -lb.  shot 
was  fastened  to  the  splice  instead,  and  the  whole  appara- 
tus was  quickly  dropped  into  the  sea  without  any  formality 
— and,  indeed,  almost  without  a  spectator — for  those  on 
board  the  ship  had  witnessed  so  many  beginnings  to  the 
telegraphic  line  that  it  was  evident  they  despaired  of  there 
ever  being  an  end  to  it. 

The  stipulated  210  fathoms  of  cable  having  been  paid 
out  to  allow  the  splice  to  sink  well  below  the  surface, 
the  signal  to  start  was  hoisted,  the  hawser  cut  loose,  and 
the  Niagara  and  Agamemnon  start  for  the  last  time  at 
about  1  p.m.  for  their  opposite  destinations. 

The  announcement  comes  from  the  electrician's  test- 
ing-room that  the  continuity  is  perfect,  and  with  this  assur- 
ance the  engineers  go  on  more  boldly  with  the  work.  In 
point  of  fact  the  engineers  may  be  said  to  be  very  much 
under  the  control  of  the  electricians  during  paying  out; 
for  if  the  latter  report  anything  wrong  with  the  cable,  the 
engineers  are  brought  to  a  stand  until  they  are  allowed  to 
go  on  with  their  operations  by  the  announcement  of  the 
electricians  that  the  insulation  is  perfect  and  the  con- 
tinuity all  right.  The  testing-room  is  where  the  subtle 
current  which  flows  along  the  conductor  is  generated,  and 
where  the  mysterious  apparatus  by  which  electricity  is 
weighed  and  measured — as  a  marketable  commodity — is 
fitted  up.  The  system  of  testing  and  of  transmitting  and 
receiving  signals  through  the  cable  from  ship  to  ship 
during  the  process  of  paying  out  must  now  be  briefly 
referred  to.  It  consists  of  an  exchange  of  currents  sent 
alternately  every  ten  minutes  by  each  ship.  These  not 
only  serve  to  give  an  accurate  test  of  the  continuity  and 
insulation  of  the  conducting-wire  from  end  to  end,  but 
also  to  give  certain  signals  which  it  is  desirable  to  send 
for  information  purposes.     For  instance,  every  ten  miles 


"FINIS   CORONAT   OPUS"  121 

of  cable  paid  out  is  signalized  from  ship  to  ship,  as  also 
the  approach  to  land  or  momentary  stoppage  for  splicing, 
shifting  to  a  fresh  coil,  etc.  The  current  in  its  passage  is 
made  to  pass  through  an  electromagnetometer,*  an  instru- 
ment invented  by  Mr.  Whitehouse.  It  is  also  conveyed 
in  its  passage  at  each  end  of  the  cable  through  the  reflect- 
ing-galvanometer  and  speaking-instrument  jusc  invented  by 
Professor  Thomson;  and  it  is  this  latter  which  is  so  invalu- 
able, not  only  for  the  interchange  of  signals,  but  also  for 
testing  purposes.  The  deflections  read  on  the  galvanom- 
eter, as  also  the  degree  of  charge  and  discharge  indicated 
by  the  magnetometer,  are  carefully  recorded.  Thus, 
if  a  defect  of  continuity  or  insulation  occurs  it  is  brought 
to  light  by  comparison  with  those  received  before. 

For  the  first  three  hours  the  ships  proceeded  very 
slowly,  paying  out  a  great  quantity  of  slack,  but  after  the 
expiration  of  this  time  the  speed  of  the  Agamemnon  was 
increased  to  about  five  knots,  the  cable  going  at  about 
six,  without  indicating  more  than  a  few  hundred  pounds 
of  strain  upon  the  dynamometer. 

Shortly  after  four  o'clock  a  very  large  whale  was  seen 
approaching  the  starboard  bow  at  a  great  speed  (Fig.  28), 
rolling  and  tossing  the  sea  into  foam  all  round;  and  for 
the  first  time  we  felt  a  possibility  for  the  supposition  that 
our  second  mysterious  breakage  of  the  cable  might  have 
been  caused,  after  all,  by  one  of  these  animals  getting  foul 
of  it  under  water.  It  appeared  as  if  it  were  making  direct 
for  the  cable;  and  great  was  the  relief  of  all  when  the 
ponderous  living  mass  was  seen  slowly  to  pass  astern,  just 
grazing  the  cable  where  it  entered  the  water — but  fortu- 
nately without  doing  any  mischief.  All  seemed  to  go  well 
up  to  about  eight  o'clock;  the  cable  paid  out  from  the 
hold  with  an  evenness  and  regularity  which  showed  how 
carefully  and  perfectly  it  had  been  coiled  away.  The 
paying-out  machine  also  worked  so  smoothly  that  it  left 

*  Though  bearing  this  somewhat  cumbersome  and  elabo- 
rate title,  this  instrument  was  practically  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  an  ordinary  "detector,"  its  capacity  for  actually 
measuring  the  electric  current  being  of  an  extremely  limited 
character. 


122    THE  STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

nothing  to  be  desired.  The  brakes  are  properly  called 
self -releasing;  and  although  they  can,  by  means  of  addi- 
tional weights,  be  made  to  increase  the  pressure  or  strain 
upon  the  cable,  yet,  until  these  weights  are  still  further 
increased  (at  the  engineer's  instructions),  it  is  impossible 
to  augment  the  strain  in  any  other  way.  To  guard 
against  accidents  which  might  arise  in  consequence  of 
the  cable  having  suffered  injury  during  the  storm,  the 
indicated  strain  upon  the  dynamometer  was  never  allowed 
to  go  beyond  1,700  lbs.  or  less  than  one-quarter  what  the 
cable  is  estimated  to  bear.  Thus  far  everything  looked 
promising. 

But  in  such  a  hazardous  work  no  one  knows  what  a 
few  minutes  may  bring  forth,  for  soon  after  eight  o'clock 
an  injured  portion  of  the  cable*  was  discovered  about  a 
mile  or  two  from  the  portion  paying  out.  Not  a  moment 
was  lost  by  Mr.  Canning,  the  engineer  on  duty,  in  setting 
men  to  work  to  cobble  up  the  injury  as  well  as  time  would 
permit,  for  the  cable  was  going  out  at  such  a  rate  that  the 
damaged  portion  would  be  paid  overboard  in  less  than 
twenty  minutes,  and  former  experience  had  shown  us  that 
to  check  either  the  speed  of  the  ship  or  the  cable  would, 
in  all  probability,  be  attended  by  the  most  fatal  results. 
Just  before  the  lapping  was  finished,  Professor  Thomson 
reported  that  the  electrical  continuity  of  the  wire  had 
ceased,  but  that  the  insulation  was  still  perfect.  Atten- 
tion was  naturally  directed  to  the  injured  piece  as  the 
probable  source  of  the  stoppage,  and  not  a  moment  was 
lost  in  cutting  the  cable  at  that  point  with  the  intention 
of  making  a  perfect  splice. 

To  the  consternation  of  all,  the  electrical  tests  applied 
showed  the  fault  to  be  overboard,  and  in  all  probability 
some  fifty  miles  from  the  ship. 

Not  a  second  was  to  be  lost,  for  it  was  evident  that 
the  cut  portion  must  be  paid  overboard  in  a  few  minutes; 
and  in  the  meantime  the  tedious  and  difficult  operation  of 

*  This  was  some  of  the  cable  damaged  during  the  storm, 
like  that  which  had  been  broken  at  the  end  of  the  previous 
attempt.  The  bottom  of  the  hold  here  was  found  afterward 
to  be  in  a  very  disordered  state. 


124    THE  STORY   OF  THE  ATLANTIC   CABLE 

making  a  splice  had  to  be  performed.  The  ship  was  im- 
mediately stopped,  and  no  more  cable  paid  out  than  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  prevent  it  breaking.  As  the  stern 
of  the  ship  was  lifted  by  the  waves  a  scene  of  the  most 
intense  excitement  followed.  It  seemed  impossible,  even 
by  using  the  greatest  possible  speed  and  paying  out  the 
least  possible  amount  of  cable,  that  the  junction  could  be 
finished  before  the  part  was  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
workmen.  The  main  hold  presented  an  extraordinary 
scene.  Nearly  all  the  officers  of  the  ship  and  of  those 
connected  with  the  expedition  stood  in  groups  about  the 
coil,  watching  with  intense  anxiety  the  cable  as  it  slowly 
unwound  itself  nearer  and  nearer  the  joint,  while  the  work- 
men worked  at  the  splice  as  only  men  could  work  who 
felt  that  the  life  and  death  of  the  expedition  depended  upon 
their  rapidity.  But  all  their  speed  was  to  no  purpose,  as 
the  cable  was  unwinding  within  a  hundred  fathoms; 
and,  as  a  last  and  desperate  resource,  the  cable  was 
stopped  altogether,  and  for  a  few  minutes  the  ship  hung 
on  by  the  end.  Fortunately,  however,  it  was  only  for  a 
few  minutes,  as  the  strain  was  continually  rising  above 
two  tons  and  it  would  not  hold  on  much  longer.  When 
the  splice  was  finished  the  signal  was  made  to  loose  the 
stoppers,  and  it  passed  overboard  in  safety. 

When  the  excitement,  consequent  upon  having  so 
narrowly  saved  the  cable,  had  passed  away,  we  awoke  to 
the  consciousness  that  the  case  was  yet  as  hopeless  as 
ever,  for  the  electrical  continuity  was  still  entirely  wanting. 

Preparations  were  consequently  made  to  pay  out  as 
little  rope  as  possible,  and  to  hold  on  for  six  hours  in 
the  hope  that  the  fault,  whatever  it  was,  might  mend 
itself,  before  cutting  the  cable  and  returning  to  the  ren- 
dezvous to  make  another  splice.  The  magnetic  needles  on 
the  receiving-instruments  were  watched  closely  for  the 
returning  signals,  when,  in  a  few  minutes,  the  last  hope 
was  extinguished  by  their  suddenly  indicating  dead  earth, 
which  tended  to  show  that  the  cable  had  broken  from  the 
Niagara,  or  that  the  insulation  had  been  completely  de- 
stroyed. 

Nothing,  however,  could   be   done.     The   only  course 


"FINIS   CORONAT  OPUS"  125 

was  to  wait  until  the  current  should  return  or  take  its  final 
departure.  And  it  did  return — with  greater  strength 
than  ever — for  in  three  minutes  every  one  was  agreeably 
surprised  by  the  intelligence  that  the  stoppage  had  dis- 
appeared and  that  the  signals  had  again  appeared  at  their 
regular  intervals  from  the  Niagara*  It  is  needless  to 
say  what  a  load  of  anxiety  this  news  removed  from  the 
minds  of  every  one,  but  the  general  confidence  in  the 
ultimate  success  of  the  operations  was  much  shaken  by 
the  occurrence,  for  all  felt  that  every  minute  a  similar 
accident  might  occur. 

For  some  time  the  paying  out  continued  as  usual,  but 
toward  the  morning  another  damaged  place  was  dis- 
covered in  the  cable.  There  was  fortunately  time,  how- 
ever, to  repair  it  in  the  hold  without  in  any  way  inter- 
fering with  the  operations,  beyond  for  a  time  reducing 
slightly  the  speed  of  the  ship.  During  the  morning  of 
Friday,  the  30th,  everything  went  well.  The  ship  had 
been  kept  at  the  speed  of  about  five  knots,  the  cable 
going  out  at  six,  the  average  angle  with  the  horizon  at 
which  it  left  the  ship  being  about  150,  while  the  indicated 
strain  upon  the  dynamometer  seldom  showed  more  than 
1,600  lbs.  to  1,700  lbs. 

Observations  made  at  noon  showed  that  we  had  made 
good  ninety  miles  from  the  starting-point  since  the  pre- 
vious day,  with  an  expenditure — including  the  loss  in 
lowering  the  splice,  and  during  the  subsequent  stoppages 
— of  135  miles  of  cable.  During  the  latter  portion  of  the 
day  the  barometer  fell  considerably,  and  toward  the 
evening  it  blew  almost  a  gale  of  wind  from  the  eastward, 
dead  ahead  of  our  course.  As  the  breeze  freshened  the 
speed  of  the  engines  was  gradually  increased,  but  the 
wind  more  than  increased  in  proportion,  so  that  before 
the  sun  went  down  the  Agamemnon  was  going  full  steam 
against  the  wind,  only  making  a  speed  of  about  four 
knots. 

*  Later  on  it  was  made  clear  that  this  mysterious  tempo- 
rary want  of  continuity,  accompanied  by  an  apparent  varia- 
tion in  the  insulation,  was  due  to  a  defect  in  the  more  or  less 
inconstant  sand-battery  used  aboard  the  latter  vessel. 


126    THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

During  the  evening,  topmasts  were  lowered,  and 
spars,  yards,  sails,  and  indeed  everything  aloft  that  could 
offer  resistance  to  the  wind,  were  sent  down  on  deck. 
Still  the  ship  made  but  little  way,  chiefly  in  consequence 
of  the  heavy  sea,  though  the  enormous  quantity  of  fuel 
consumed  showed  us  that  if  the  wind  lasted,  we  should  be 
reduced  to  burning  the  masts,  spars,  and  even  the  decks, 
to  bring  the  ship  into  Valentia.  It  seemed  to  be  our 
particular  ill-fortune  to  meet  with  head-winds  whichever 
way  the  ship's  head  was  turned.  On  our  journey  out  we 
had  been  delayed  and  obliged  to  consume  an  undue 
proportion  of  coal  for  want  of  an  easterly  wind,  and  now 
all  our  fuel  was  wanted  because  of  one.  However,  during 
the  next  day  the  wind  gradually  went  round  to  the  south- 
west, which,  though  it  raised  a  very  heavy  sea,  allowed 
us  to  husband  our  small  remaining  store  of  fuel. 

At  noon  on  Saturday,  July  31st,  observations  showed 
us  to  be  in  lat.  520  23'  N.,  and  long.  260  44'  W,, 
having  made  good  120  miles  of  distance  since  noon  of 
the  previous  day,  with  a  loss  of  about  27  per  cent  of  cable. 
The  Niagara,  as  far  as  could  be  judged  from  the  amount 
of  cable  she  paid  out — which  by  a  previous  arrangement 
was  signaled  at  every  ten  miles — kept  pace  with  us, 
within  one  or  two  miles,  the  whole  distance  across. 

During  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  the  wind  again 
freshened  up,  and  before  nightfall  it  blew  nearly  a  gale  of 
wind,  and  a  tremendous  sea  ran  before  it  from  the  south- 
west, which  made  the  Agamemnon  pitch  and  toss  to 
such  an  extent  that  it  was  thought  impossible  the  cable 
could  hold  through  the  night.  Indeed,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  constant  care  and  watchfulness  exercised  by  Mr. 
Bright  and  the  two  energetic  engineers,  Mr.  Canning 
and  Mr.  Clifford,  who  acted  with  him,  it  could  not  have 
been  done  at  all.  Men  were  kept  at  the  wheels  of  the 
machine  to  prevent  their  stopping  (as  the  stern  of  the 
ship  rose  and  fell  with  the  sea),  for  had  they  done  so, 
the  cable  must  undoubtedly  have  parted.  During  Sun- 
day the  sea  and  wind  increased,  and  before  the  evening 
it  blew  a  smart  gale. 

Now,   indeed,   were   the    energy    and   activity   of  all 


"FINIS   CORONAT  OPUS"  127 

engaged  in  the  operation  tasked  to  the  utmost.  Mr. 
Hoar  and  Mr.  Moore — the  two  engineers  who  had  the 
charge  of  the  relieving-wheels  of  the  dynamometer — 
had  to  keep  watch  and  watch  alternately  every  four 
hours,  and  while  on  duty  durst  not  let  their  attention  be 
removed  from  their  occupation  for  one  moment;  for  on 
their  releasing  the  brakes  every  time  the  stern  of  the  ship 
fell  into  the  trough  of  the  sea  entirely  depended  the 
safety  of  the  cable,  and  the  result  shows  how  ably  they 
discharged  their  duty. 

Throughout  the  night  there  were  few  who  had  the  least 
expectation  of  the  cable  holding  on  till  morning,  and 
many  lay  awake  listening  for  the  sound  that  all  most 
dreaded  to  hear,  viz.,  the  gun  which  should  announce  the 
failure  of  all  our  hopes.  But  still  the  cable — which  in 
comparison  with  the  ship  from  which  it  was  paid  out, 
and  the  gigantic  waves  among  which  it  was  delivered, 
was  but  a  mere  thread — continued  to  hold  on,  only 
leaving  a  silvery  phosphorescent  line  upon  the  stupend- 
ous seas  as  they  rolled  on  toward  the  ship. 

With  Sunday  morning  came  no  improvement  in  the 
weather,  still  the  sky  remained  black  and  stormy  to 
windward,  and  the  constant  violent  squalls  of  wind  and 
rain  which  prevailed  during  the  whole  day  served  to 
keep  up,  if  not  to  augment,  the  height  of  the  waves. 

But  the  cable  had  gone  through  so  much  during  the 
night  that  our  confidence  in  its  continuing  to  hold  was 
much  restored.  At  noon  observation  showed  us  to  be 
in  lat.  520  26'  N.,  and  long.  230  16'  W.,  having  made  good 
130  miles  from  noon  of  the  previous  day,  and  about  350 
from  our  starting-point  in  mid-ocean.  We  had  passed  by 
the  deepest  soundings  of  2,400  fathoms,  and  over  more 
than  half  of  the  deep  water  generally,  while  the  amount 
of  cable  still  remaining  in  the  ship  was  more  than  suf- 
ficient to  carry  us  to  the  Irish  coast,  even  supposing  the 
continuance  of  the  bad  weather,  should  oblige  us  to  pay 
out  nearly  the  same  amount  of  slack  cable  as  hitherto. 

Thus  far  things  looked  promising  for  our  ultimate 
success.  But  former  experience  showed  us  only  too 
plainly  that  we  could  never  suppose  that  some  accident 


128     THE   STORY   OF  THE  ATLANTIC   CABLE 

might  not  arise  until  the  ends  had  been  fairly  landed  on 
the  opposite  shores. 

During  Sunday  night  and  Monday  morning  the  weather 
continued  as  boisterous  as  ever.  It  was  only  by  the  most 
indefatigable  exertions  of  the  engineer  upon  duty  that  the 
wheels  could  be  prevented  from  stopping  altogether 
as  the  vessel  rose  and  fell  with  the  sea;  and  once  or  twice 
they  did  come  completely  to  a  standstill  in  spite  of  all 
that  could  be  done  to  keep  them  moving.  Fortunately, 
however,  they  were  again  set  in  motion  before  the  stern 
of  the  ship  was  thrown  up  by  the  succeeding  wave.  No 
strain  could  be  placed  upon  the  cable,  of  course,  and 
though  the  dynamometer  occasionally  registered  1,700  lbs., 
as  the  ship  lifted,  it  was  oftener  below  1,000  lbs.,  and  was 
frequently  nothing,  the  cable  running  out  as  fast  as  its 
own  weight  and  the  speed  of  the  ship  could  draw  it.  But 
even  with  all  these  forces  acting  unresistingly  upon  it, 
the  cable  never  paid  itself  out  at  a  greater  speed  than 
eight  knots  at  the  time  the  ship  was  going  at  the  rate  of 
six  knots  and  a  half.  Subsequently,  however,  when  the 
speed  of  the  ship  even  exceeded  six  knots  and  a  half,  the 
cable  never  ran  out  so  quickly.  The  average  speed  main- 
tained by  the  ship  up  to  this  time,  and,  indeed,  for  the 
whole  voyage,  was  about  five  knots  and  a  half,  the  cable, 
with  occasional  exceptions,  running  some  30  per  cent  faster. 

At  noon  on  Monday,  August  2d,  observations  showed 
us  to  be  in  lat.  520  35'  N.,  long.  190  48'  W.  Thus  we 
had  made  good  127I  miles  since  noon  of  the  previous 
day  and  had  completed  more  than  half-way  to  our  ulti- 
mate destination. 

During  the  afternoon,  an  American  three-masted 
schooner,  which  afterward  proved  to  be  the  Chieftain,  was 
seen  standing  from  the  eastward  toward  us.  No  notice 
was  taken  of  her  at  first,  but  when  she  was  within  about 
half  a  mile  of  the  Agamemnon,  she  altered  her  course 
and  bore  right  down  across  our  bows.  A  collision  which 
might  prove  fatal  to  the  cable  now  seemed  inevitable;  or 
could  only  be  avoided  by  the  equally  hazardous  expedi- 
ent of  altering  the  Agamemnon's  course.  The  Valorous 
steamed  ahead  and  fired  a  gun  for  her  to  heave  to,  which 


"FINIS   CORONAT  OPUS"  129 

as  she  did  not  appear  to  take  much  notice  of,  was  quickly 
followed  by  another  from  the  bows  of  the  Agamemnon, 
and  a  second  and  third  from  the  Valorous.  But  still  the 
vessel  held  on  her  course;  and,  as  the  only  resource  left  to 
avoid  a  collision,  the  course  of  the  Agamemnon  was  al- 
tered just  in  time  to  pass  within  a  few  yards  of  her.  It 
was  evident  that  our  proceedings  were  a  source  of  the 
greatest  possible  astonishment  to  them,  for  all  her  crew 
crowded  upon  her  deck  and  rigging.  At  length  they 
evidently  discovered  who  we  were  and  what  we  were  doing, 
for  the  crew  manned  the  rigging,  and,  dipping  the  ensign 
several  times,  they  gave  us  three  hearty  cheers.  Though 
the  Agamemnon  was  obliged  to  acknowledge  these  con- 
gratulations in  due  form,  the  feeling  of  annoyance  with 
which  we  regarded  the  vessel — which  (either  by  the 
stupidity  or  carelessness  of  those  on  board)  was  so  near 
adding  a  fatal  and  unexpected  mishap  to  the  long  chapter 
of  accidents  which  had  already  been  encountered — may 
easily  be  imagined. 

To  those  below — who,  of  course,  did  not  see  the  ship 
approaching — the  sound  of  the  first  gun  came  like  a 
thunderbolt,  for  all  took  it  as  a  signal  of  the  breaking  of 
the  cable.  The  dinner-tables  were  deserted  in  a  moment, 
and  a  general  rush  made  up  the  hatches  to  the  deck;  but 
before  reaching  it  their  fears  were  quickly  banished  by  the 
report  of  the  succeeding  gun,  which  all  knew  well  could 
only  be  caused  by  a  ship  in  our  way  or  a  man  overboard. 

Throughout  the  greater  part  of  Monday  morning  the 
electrical  signals  from  the  Niagara  had  been  getting 
gradually  weaker,  until  they  ceased  altogether  for  nearly 
three-quarters  of  an  hour.  Then  Professor  Thomson 
sent  a  message  to  the  effect  that  the  signals  were  too  weak 
to  be  read;  and,  in  a  little  while,  the  deflections  returned 
even  stronger  than  they  had  ever  been  before.  Toward 
the  evening,  however,  they  again  declined  in  force  for  a 
few  minutes.* 

*  It  subsequently  transpired  that  the  trouble  had  been 
due  to  a  fault  in  the  Niagara's  ward-room  coil.  As  soon 
as  the  electricians  discovered  this,  and  had  it  cut  out,  all 
went  smoothly  again. 


130  THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

With  the  exception  of  these  little  stoppages,  the 
electrical  condition  of  the  submerged  wire  seemed  to  be 
much  improved.  It  was  evident  that  the  low  temperature 
of  the  water  at  the  immense  depth  improved  considerably 
the  insulating  properties  of  the  gutta-percha,  while  the 
enormous  pressure  to  which  it  must  have  been  subjected 
probably  tended  to  consolidate  its  texture,  and  to  fill  up 
any  air-bubbles  or  slight  faults  in  manufacture  which  may 
have  existed. 

The  weather  during  Monday  night  moderated  a  little; 
but  still  there  was  a  very  heavy  sea  on,  which  endangered 
the  wire  every  second  minute. 

About  three  o'clock  on  Tuesday  morning  all  on  board 
were  startled  from  their  beds  by  the  loud  booming  of  a 
gun.  Every  one — without  waiting  for  the  performance  of 
the  most  particular  toilet — rushed  on  deck  to  ascertain  the 
cause  of  the  disturbance.  Contrary  to  all  expectation,  the 
cable  was  safe;  but  just  in  the  gray  light  could  be  seen  the 
Valorous — rounded  to  in  the  most  warlike  attitude — 
firing  gun  after  gun  in  quick  succession  toward  a  large 
American  bark,  which,  quite  unconscious  of  our  pro- 
ceedings, was  standing  right  across  our  stern.  Such  loud 
and  repeated  remonstrances  from  a  large  steam-frigate 
were  not  to  be  despised;  and  evidently  without  knowing 
the  why  or  the  wherefore  she  quickly  threw  her  sails 
aback,  and  remained  hove  to.  Whether  those  on  board 
her  considered  that  we  were  engaged  in  some  filibustering 
expedition,  or  regarded  our  proceedings  as  another  out- 
rage upon  the  American  flag,  it  is  impossible  to  say; 
but  certain  it  is  that — apparently  in  great  trepidation — 
she  remained  hove  to  until  we  had  lost  sight  of  her  in 
the  distance. 

Tuesday  was  a  much  finer  day  than  any  we  had 
experienced  for  nearly  a  week,  but  still  there  was  a  con- 
siderable sea  running,  and  our  dangers  were  far  from 
past;  yet  the  hopes  of  our  ultimate  success  ran  high. 
We  had  accomplished  nearly  the  whole  of  the  deep  por- 
tions of  the  route  in  safety,  and  that,  too,  under  the  most 
unfavorable  circumstances  possible;  therefore  there 
was  every  reason  to  believe  that — unless  some  unforeseen 


"FINIS    CORONAT   OPUS"  131 

accident  should  occur — we  should  accomplish  the  re- 
mainder. Observations  at  noon  placed  us  in  lat.  50  26' 
N.,  long.  160  f  40"  W.,  having  run  134  miles  since  the 
previous  day. 

About  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  steep  submarine 
mountain  which  divides  the  steep  telegraphic  plateau  from 
the  Irish  coast  was  reached,  and  the  sudden  shallowing  of 
water  had  a  very  marked  effect  upon  the  cable,  causing  the 
strain  and  the  speed  to  lessen  every  minute.  A  great 
deal  of  slack  was  paid  out,*  to  allow  for  any  greater  ine- 
qualities which  might  exist,  though  undiscovered  by  the 
sounding-line. 

About  ten  o'clock  the  shoal  water  of  250  fathoms  was 
reached.  The  only  remaining  anxiety  now  was  the 
changing  from  the  lower  main  coil  to  that  upon  the  upper 
ceck;  and  this  most  dangerous  operation  was  success- 
fully performed  between  three  and  four  o'clock  on  Wed- 
nesday morning. 

Wednesday  was  a  beautiful,  calm  day;  indeed,  it  was 
the  first  on  which  any  one  would  have  thought  of  making 
a  splice  since  the  day  we  started  from  the  rendezvous. 
We  therefore  congratulated  ourselves  on  having  saved  a 
week  by  commencing  operations  on  the  Thursday  previous. 

At  noon  we  were  in  lat.  520  11/;  long.  120  40'  2"  W., 
eighty-nine  miles  distant  from  the  telegraph  station  at 
Valentia.  The  water  was  shallow,  so  that  there  was  no 
difficulty  in  paying  out  the  wire  almost  without  any  loss 
by  slack;  and  all  looked  upon  the  undertaking  as  virtually 
accomplished. 

At  about  one  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  second  change 
from  the  upper-deck  coil  to  that  upon  the  orlop-deck  was 
safely  effected;    and  shortly  after  the  vessels  exchanged . 
signals  that  they  were  in  200  fathoms  water. 

As  night  advanced  the  speed  of  the  ship  was  reduced, 
as  it  was  known  that  we  were  only  a  short  distance  from 
the  land,  and  there  would  be  no  advantage  in  making  it 

*  The  amount  of  slack  paid  out  had  already  been  almost 
ruinous.  Luckily  its  continuance  was  not  necessary,  or  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  reach  Ireland  with  the  cable 
on  board. 


132     THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

before  daylight  in  the  morning.  At  about  twelve  o'clock, 
however,  the  Skelligs  Light  was  seen  in  the  distance, 
and  the  Valorous  steamed  on  ahead  to  lead  us  in  to 
the  coast,  firing  rockets  at  intervals  to  direct  us,  which 
were  answered  by  us  from  the  Agamemnon,  though — 
according  to  Mr.  Moriarty,  the  master's,  wish — the  ship, 
disregarding  the  Valorous,  kept  her  own  course,  which 
proved  to  be  the  right  one  in  the  end. 

By  daylight  on  the  morning  of  Thursday,  the  5th,  the 
bold  rocky  mountains  which  entirely  surround  the  wild 
and  picturesque  neighborhood  of  Valentia  rose  right  be- 
fore us  at  a  few  miles  distance.  Never,  probably,  was 
the  sight  of  land  more  welcome,  as  it  brought  to  a  success- 
ful termination  one  of  the  greatest,  but  at  the  same  time 
most  difficult,  schemes  which  was  ever  undertaken.  Had 
it  been  the  dullest  and  most  melancholy  swamp  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  that  lay  before  us,  we  should  have  found 
it  a  pleasant  prospect;  but  as  the  sun  rose  behind  the 
estuary  of  Dingle  Bay,  tingeing  with  a  deep,  soft  purple 
the  lofty  summits  of  the  steep  mountains  which  surround 
its  shores,  illuminating  the  masses  of  morning  vapor 
which  hung  upon  them,  it  was  a  scene  which  might  vie 
in  beauty  with  anything  that  could  be  produced  by  the 
most  florid  imagination  of  an  artist. 

Successful  Termination. — No  one  on  shore  was  appar- 
ently conscious  of  our  approach,  so  the  Valorous  went 
ahead  to  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  and  fired  a  gun.  Both 
ships  made  straight  for  Doulas  Bay,  the  Agamemnon 
steaming  into  the  harbor  (see  Frontispiece)  with  a  feeling 
that  she  had  done  something,  and  about  6  a.m.  came 
to  anchor  at  the  side  of  Beginish  Island,  opposite  to 
Valentia. 

As  soon  as  the  inhabitants  became  aware  of  our 
approach,  there  was  a  general  desertion  of  the  place,  and 
hundreds  of  boats  crowded  round  us — their  passengers  in 
the  greatest  state  of  excitement  to  hear  all  about  our 
voyage.  The  Knight  of  Kerry  was  absent  in  Dingle,  but 
a  messenger  was  immediately  despatched  for  him,  and  he 
soon  arrived  in  her  Majesty's  gunboat  Shamrock. 

Soon  after  our  arrival  a  signal  was  received  from  the 


134     THE   STORY    OF  THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

Niagara  that  they  were  preparing  to  land,  having  paid 
out  1,030  nautical  miles  of  cable,  while  the  Agamemnon 
had  accomplished  her  portion  of  the  distance  with  an 
expenditure  of  1,020  miles,  making  the  total  length  of  the 
wire  submerged  2,050  geographical  miles. 

Immediately  after  the  ships  cast  anchor,  the  paddle- 
box  boats  of  the  Valorous  were  got  ready,  and  two  miles  of 
cable  coiled  away  in  them,  for  the  purpose  of  landing  the 
end.  But  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon  before  the  pro- 
cession of  boats  left  the  ship,  under  a  salute  of  three 
rounds  of  small  arms  from  the  detachment  of  marines  on 
board  the  Agamemnon,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant 
Morris. 

The  progress  of  the  end  to  the  shore  was  very  slow,  in 
consequence  of  the  stiff  wind  which  blew  at  the  time;  but 
at  about  3  p.m.  the  end  was  safely  brought  on  shore  at 
Knight's  Town,  Valentia,  by  Mr.  Bright,  to  whose  exer- 
tions the  success  of  the  undertaking  is  attributable.  Mr. 
Bright  was  accompanied  by  Mr.  Canning  and  the  Knight 
of  Kerry.  The  end  was  immediately  laid  in  the  trench 
which  had  been  dug  to  receive  it;  while  a  royal  salute, 
making  the  neighboring  rocks  and  mountains  reverberate, 
announced  that  the  communication  between  the  Old  and 
New  World  had  been  completed. 

The  cable  was  taken  into  the  electrical  room  by  Mr. 
Whitehouse,  and  attached  to  a  galvanometer,  and  the 
first  message  was  received  through  the  entire  length  now 
lying  on  the  bed  of  the  sea. 

Too  much  praise  can  not  be  bestowed  upon  both  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  Agamemnon  for  the  hearty  way  in 
which  they  have  assisted  in  the  arduous  and  difficult 
service  they  have  been  engaged  in;  and  the  admirable 
manner  in  which  the  ship  was  navigated  by  Mr.  Moriarty 
materially  reduced  the  difficulty  of  the  company's  opera- 
tions. 

It  will,  in  all  probability,  be  nearly  a  fortnight  before 
the  instruments  are  connected  at  the  two  termini  for  the 
transmission  of  regular  messages. 

It  is  unnecessary  here  to  expatiate  upon  the  magni- 
tude of  the  undertaking  which  has  just  been  completed,  or 


136     THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

upon  the  great  political  and  social  results  which  are 
likely  to  accrue  from  it;  but  there  can  be  but  one  feeling 
of  universal  admiration  for  the  courage  and  perseverance 
which  have  been  displayed  by  Mr.  Bright,  and  those  who 
acted  under  his  orders,  in  encountering  the  manifold 
difficulties  which  arose  on  their  path  at  every  step.* 

The  American  End. — In  contradistinction  to 
the  heavy  seas  and  difficulties  the  Agamemnon 
had  to  contend  with,  her  consort,  the  Niagara,  ex- 
perienced very  quiet  weather,  and  her  part  of  the 
work  was  comparatively  uneventful,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  fault  near  the  bottom  of  the  ward- 
room coil.  This  was  detected  during  the  opera- 
tions on  the  night  of  August  2d,  but  was  removed 
before  it  was  paid  out  into  the  sea.  About  four 
o'clock  the  next  morning  the  continuity  and  insu- 
lation was  accordingly  restored,  and,  says  Mr. 
Mullaly  (the  New  York  Herald  correspondent  on 
board),  "all  was  going  on  as  if  nothing  had  oc- 
curred to  disturb  the  confidence  we  felt  in  the  suc- 
cess of  the  expedition." 

When  nearing  the  end,  various  icebergs  were 
met  with — some  a  hundred  feet  high.  Mullaly 
dilates  on  their  castle-like  form  and  the  effective 
appearance  of  the  sun's  rays  thereon.  Shortly 
after  entering  Trinity  Bay,  Newfoundland,  the 
Niagara  was  met  by  H.M.S.  Porcupine,  which  had 
been  sent  out  from  England  at  the  very  beginning 
of  the  1858  expedition  to  await  her  arrival  and 
render  any  assistance  which  might  be  required. 
The  Niagara  anchored  about  1  a.m.  on  August 
5th,  having  completed  her  work,  and,  during  the 
forenoon  of  that  day,  the  cable  was  landed  in  a 

*  The  Times,  Wednesday,  August  n,  1858. 


THE   CELEBRATION  137 

little  bay,  Bull  Arm,*  at  the  head  of  Trinity  Bay, 
when  they  "received  very  strong  currents  of  elec- 
tricity through  the  whole  cable  from  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic"! 

The  telegraph-house  at  the  Newfoundland  end 
was  some  two  miles  from  the  beach,  and  con- 
nected to  the  cable  by  a  land-line. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    CELEBRATION 

Engineer's   Report  —  Jubilations —  Banquets — Speeches — ■ 
Honor  to  the  Engineer-in-Chief. 

On  landing  at  Valentia,  the  engineer-in-chief  at 
once  sent  the  following  startling  but  welcome 
message  to  his  Board,  which  was  at  once  passed 
on  to  the  press  : 

Charles  Bright,  to  the  Directors  of   the   Atlantic    Tele- 
graph Company. 

Valentia,  August  jth. 

The  Agamemnon  has  arrived  at  Valentia,  and  we  are 
about  to  land  the  end  of  the  cable. 

The  Niagara  is  in  Trinity  Bay,  Newfoundland. 
There  are  good  signals  between  the  ships. 

We  reached  the  rendezvous  on  the  night  of  the  28th, 
and  the  splice  with  the  Niagara  cable  was  made  on 
board  the  Agamemnon  the  following  morning. 

*  This  spot  had  been  selected  on  account  of  its  seclusion 
from  prevailing  winds,  and  owing  to  the  shelter  it  afforded 
from  drifting  icebergs. 

f  Engineer's  log,  U.S.N.S.  Niagara. 


138    THE   STORY   OF   THE  ATLANTIC   CABLE 

By  noon  on  the  30th,  265  nautical  miles  were  laid 
between  the  ships;  on  the  31st,  540;  on  the  1st  August, 
884;  on  the  2d,  1,256;  on  the  4th,  1,854;  on  anchoring 
at  six  in  the  morning  in  Doulas  Bay,  2,022. 

The  speed  of  the  Niagara  during  the  whole  time  has 
been  nearly  the  same  as  ours,  the  length  of  cable  paid  out 
from  the  two  ships  being  generally  within  ten  miles  of 
each  other. 

With  the  exception  of  yesterday,  the  weather  has  been 
very  unfavorable.* 

On  the  afternoon  of  Thursday,  August  5th — as 
already  described  in  The  Times  report — Bright 
and  his  staff  brought  to  shore  the  end  of  the 
cable,  at  White  Strand  Bay,  near  Knight's  Town, 
Valentia,  in  the  boats  of  the  Valorous,  welcomed 
by  the  united  cheers  of  the  small  crowd  assembled. 

Taken  entirely  by  surprise,  all  England  ap- 
plauded the  triumph  of  such  undaunted  persever- 
ance and  the  engineering  and  nautical  skill  dis- 
played in  this  victory  over  the  elements.  The 
Atlantic  Telegraph  had  been  justly  characterized 
as  the  "great  feat  of  the  century,"  and  this  was 
reechoed  by  all  the  press  on  its  realization.  The 
following  extracts  from  the  leading  article  of  The 
Times  the  day  after  completion  is  an  example  of 
the  comments  upon  the  achievement : 

Mr.  Bright,  having  landed  the  end  of  the  Atlantic 
cable  at  Valentia,  has  brought  to  a  successful  termination 
his  anxious  and  difficult  task  of  linking  the  Old  World 
with  the  New,  thereby  annihilating  space.  Since  the 
discovery  of  Columbus,  nothing  has  been  done  in  any 
degree  comparable  to  the  vast  enlargement  which  has  thus 
been  given  to  the  sphere  of  human  activity. 

The  rejoicing  in  America,  both  in  public  and  private, 

*  The  Times,  second  edition,  August  5  th,   1858. 


THE   CELEBRATION         .  139 

knew  no  bounds.  The  astounding  news  of  the  success  of 
this  unparalleled  enterprise,  after  such  combats  with 
storm  and  sea,  "  created  universal  enthusiasm,  exultation, 
and  joy,  such  as  was,  perhaps,  never  before  produced 
by  any  event,  not  even  the  discovery  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere.  Many  had  predicted  its  failure,  some 
from  ignorance,  others  simply  because  they  were  anti- 
progressives  by  nature.  Philanthropists  everywhere 
nailed  it  as  the  greatest  event  of  modern  times,  heralding 
the  good  time  coming  of  universal  peace  and  brotherhood." 
In  Newfoundland,  Mr.  Field,  together  with  Mr. 
Bright's  assistant  engineers,  Messrs.  Everett  and  Wood- 
house,  and  the  electricians,  Messrs.  de  Sauty  and  Laws, 
received  the  heartiest  congratulations  and  welcome  from 
the  Governor  and  Legislative  Council  of  the  colony. 
While  acknowledging  these  congratulations,  Mr.  Field 
remarked.  "We  have  had  many  difficulties  to  surmount, 
many  discouragements  to  bear,  and  some  enemies  to  over- 
come, whose  very  opposition  has  stimulated  us  to  greater 
exertion."* 

It  was  a  curious  coincidence  that  the  cable  was 
successfully  completed  to  Valentia  on  the  same 
day  in  1858  on  which  the  shore  end  had  been 
landed  the  year  before.  Moreover,  it  was  exactly- 
one  hundred  and  eleven  years  since  Dr.  (after- 
ward Sir  William)  Watson  had  astonished  the 
scientific  world  by  sending  an  electric  current 
through  a  wire  two  miles  long,  using  the  earth  as 
a  return  circuit.  It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that 
the  first  feat  of  telegraphy  was  executed  by  order 
of  King  "Agamemnon"  to  his  queen,  announcing 
the  fall  of  Troy,  1,084  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  and  that  the  great  feat  which  we  have  nar- 
rated was  carried  out  by  the  great  ship  Agamem- 
non, as  has  been  here  shown. 

*  The  Times,  August  6,  1858. 


140  THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

Mr.  Bright  and  Messrs.  Canning  and  Clifford 
and  the  rest  of  the  staff,  as  well  as  Professor 
Thomson  and  the  electricians,  were  absolutely 
exhausted  with  the  incessant  watching  and  almost 
unbearable  anxiety  attending  their  arduous 
travail.  Valentia  proved  a  haven  of  rest  indeed 
for  these  "toilers  of  the  deep" — completely 
knocked  up  with  their  experiences  on  the  Atlantic, 
not  to  mention  their  previous  trials  and  disap- 
pointments. 

Then  came  a  series  of  banquets,  which  had  to 
be  gone  through.  Soon  after  his  duties  at  Va- 
lentia were  over,  Bright  made  his  way  to  Dublin. 
Here  he  was  entertained  by  the  Lord  Mayor  and 
civic  authorities  of  that  capital  on  Wednesday, 
September  1st.  On  this  occasion  Cardinal  Wise- 
man, who  was  present,  made  an  eloquent  speech ; 
and  the  following  account  of  the  proceedings  from 
the  Morning  Post  may  be  suitably  quoted : 

The  banquet  given  on  Wednesday,  the  ist,  by  the 
Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin,  to  Mr.  C.  T.  Bright,  Engineer-in- 
Chief  to  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company,  was  a  great 
success.  The  assemblage  embraced  the  highest  names 
in  the  metropolis — civil,  military,  and  official.  Cardinal 
Wiseman  was  present  in  full  cardinalite  costume.  The 
usual  toasts  were  given,  and  received  with  all  honors. 

The  Lord  Mayor,  in  proposing  the  toast  of  the 
evening,  "The  health  of  Mr.  Bright,"  dwelt  with  much 
eloquence  on  the  achievements  of  science,  and  paid  a 
marked  and  merited  compliment  to  the  genius  and  perse- 
verance which,  in  the  face  of  discouragement  from  the 
scientific  world,  had  succeeded  in  bringing  about  the 
accomplishment  of  the  great  undertaking  of  the  laying 
of  the  Atlantic  telegraph.  His  lordship's  speech  was 
most  eloquent,  and  highly  complimentary  to  the  dis- 
tinguished guest,  Mr.  C.  T.  Bright. 


THE    CELEBRATION  141 

Mr.  Bright  rose,  amid  loud  cheers,  to  respond.  He 
thanked  the  assemblage  for  their  hearty  welcome,  and  said 
he  was  deeply  sensible  of  the  honor  of  having  his  name 
associated  with  the  great  work  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph. 
He  next  commented  upon  the  value  of  this  means  of 
communication  for  the  prevention  of  misunderstanding 
between  the  Governments  of  the  great  powers,  and  then 
referred  to  the  services  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  been 
associated  with  him  in  laying  the  cable,  with  whom  he 
shared  the  honors  done  him  that  night.  (Mr.  Bright 
was  warmly  cheered  throughout  his  eloquent  speech.) 

His  Eminence  the  Cardinal  descanted  in  glowing 
terms  on  the  new  achievement  of  science,  brought  to  a 
successful  issue  under  the  able  superintendence  of  Mr. 
Bright.  He  warmly  eulogized  that  gentleman's  modest 
appreciation  of  his  services  to  the  world  of  commerce  and 
to  international  communication  in  general. 

Charles  Bright  was  honored  with  a  knighthood 
within  a  few  days  of  landing.  As  this  was  con- 
sidered a  special  occasion,  and  as  Queen  Victoria 
was  at  that  time  abroad,  the  ceremony  was  per- 
formed there  and  then  by  his  Excellency  the 
Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland  on  behalf  of  her 
Majesty.  Bright  was  but  twenty-six  years  of 
age  at  the  time,  being  the  youngest  man  who  had 
received  the  distinction  for  generations  past,  and 
no  similar  instance  has  since  occurred.  More- 
over, it  was  the  first  title  conferred  on  the  tele- 
graphic or  electrical  profession,  and  remained  so 
for  many  years. 

With  Professor  Thomson  and  other  colleagues, 
Sir  Charles  Bright  was  right  royally  enter- 
tained in  Dublin,  Killarney,  and  elsewhere,  the 
Lord-Lieutenant  taking  a  prominent  part  in 
the  celebrations.  On  the  occasion  of  the  Kil- 
larney  banquet,   his   Excellency   made   the    fol- 


142     THE   STORY   OF  THE  ATLANTIC    CABLE 
lowing   remarks   a  propos  of  the  cable  and  its 


When  we  consider  the  extraordinary  undertaking  that 
has  been  accomplished  within  the  last  few  weeks;  when 
we  consider  that  a  cable  of  about  2,000  miles  has  been 
extended  beneath  the  ocean — a  length  which,  if  multi- 
plied ten  times,  would  reach  our  farthest  colonies  and 
nearly  surround  the  earth;  when  we  consider  it  is  stretched 
along  the  bed  of  shingles  and  shells,  which  appeared 
destined  for  it  as  a  foundation  by  Providence,  and  stretch- 
ing from  the  points  which  human  enterprise  would  look 
to;  and  when  we  consider  the  great  results  that  will 
flow  from  the  enterprise,  we  are  at  a  loss  here  how  suffi- 
ciently to  admire  the  genius  and  energy  of  those  who 
planned  it,  or  how  to  be  sufficiently  thankful  to  the  Al- 
mighty for  having  delegated  such  a  power  to  the  human 
race,  for  whose  benefit  it  is  to  be  put  in  force.  (Cheers.) 
And  let  us  look  at  the  career  which  this  telegraph  has 
passed  since  it  was  first  discovered.  At  first  it  was 
rapidly  laid  over  the  land,  uniting  states,  communities, 
and  countries,  extending  over  hills  and  valleys,  roads  and 
railways;  but  the  sea  appeared  to  present  an  impenetrable 
barrier.  It  could  not  stop  here,  however;  submarine 
telegraphy  was  but  a  question  of  time,  and  the  first  enter- 
prise by  which  it  was  introduced  was  in  connection  with  an 
old  foe — and  at  present  our  best  friend — Imperial  France. 
(Hear,  hear.)  The  next  attempt  which  was  successful  was 
the  junction  of  England  and  our  island,  and  which  was, 
I  believe,  carried  out  by  the  same  distinguished  engineer 
(Sir  Charles  Bright),  whose  name  is  now  in  the  mouth 
of  every  man.  (Hear,  hear.)  Other  submarine  attempts 
followed:  the  telegraph  paused  before  the  great  Atlantic, 
like  another  Alexander,  weeping  as  if  it  had  no  more 
worlds  to  conquer;  but  it  has  found  another  world,  and 
it  has  gained  it — not  bringing  strife  or  conquest,  but 
carrying  with  it  peace  and  good-will.  (Applause.)  I  feel 
I  should  be  wanting  if  I  did  not  allude  in  terms  of  admira- 

*  Daily  News,  August  20,  1858. 


THE   CELEBRATION  143 

tion  to  the  genius  and  skill  of  the  engineer,  Sir  Charles 
Bright,  who  has  carried  out  this  enterprise,  and  to  the 
zeal  and  courage  of  those  who  brought  it  to  a  successful 
termination.  (Applause.)  It  is  not  necessary,  I  am 
certain,  to  call  attention  to  the  diligence  and  attention 
shown  by  the  crew  of  the  Agamemnon — (cheers) — because 
I  am  sure  there  is  no  one  here  who  has  not  read  the 
description  of  the  voyage  in  the  newspapers.  The  zeal 
and  enterprise  were  only  to  be  equaled  by  the  skill  with 
which  it  was  carried  out.  I  believe  there  was  only  a 
difference  of  twelve  miles  between  the  two  ends  of  the 
cable  when  it  came  to  the  shore.  There  are  some  ques- 
tions with  regard  to  the  date  at  which  the  work  was 
carried  out  to  which  I  wish  to  call  attention.  It  was  on 
the  5th  August,  1857,  that  this  enterprise  was  first  com- 
menced under  the  auspices  of  my  distinguished  prede- 
cessor, who  I  wish  was  here  now  to  rejoice  in  its  success — 
I  mean  only  in  a  private  capacity.  (Cheers  and  laughter.) 
It  was  on  the  5th  August,  1858,  it  was  completed,  and  it 
was  on  the  5th  August,  more  than  three  hundred  years 
ago,  that  Columbus  left  the  shores  of  Spain  to  proceed 
on  his  ever-memorable  voyage  to  America.  It  was  on 
the  5th  of  August,  1583,  that  Sir  Hugh  Gilbert,  a  worthy 
countryman  of  Raleigh  and  Drake,  steered  his  good  ship 
the  Squirrel  to  the  shores  of  Newfoundland  and  first  un- 
furled the  flag  of  England  in  the  very  bay  where  this  tri- 
umph has  now  taken  place — (applause) — and  it  was  on 
the  same  5th  of  August  that  your  sovereign  was  received 
by  her  imperial  friend  amid  the  fortifications  of  Cher- 
bourg, and  thereby  put  an  end  to  the  ridiculous  nonsense 
about  strife  and  dissension.  (Applause.)  Let  the  5th 
August  be  a  day  ever  memorable  among  nations.  Let 
it  be,  if  I  may  so  term  it,  the  birthday  of  England.  (Ap- 
plause.) Among  the  many  points  which  must  have 
given  every  one  satisfaction  was  the  manner  in  which 
this  great  success  was  received  in  America.  (Hear.) 
There  appears  to  have  been  but  one  feeling  of  rejoicing 
predominant  among  them;  and  I  can  not  but  think 
that  that  was  not  only  owing  to  their  commercial  enter- 
prise— which   they   shared   along   with   us — but   also,   I 


144     THE   STORY   OF   THE  ATLANTIC   CABLE 

trust,  more  to  the  feelings  of  consanguinity  and  affection 
which  I  am  sure  we  share,  though  occasionally  disturbed 
by  international  disputes,  and  by  differences  caused 
by  misrepresentations  or  hastiness.  It  must  still  burn 
as  brightly  in  their  breasts  as  in  ours.  (Applause.) 
I  trust  that,  not  only  with  our  friends  across  the  Atlantic, 
but  with  every  civilized  nation,  this  great  triumph  of 
science  will  prove  the  harbinger  of  peace,  good-will,  and 
friendship;  and  that  England  and  America  will  not 
verify  the  first  line  of  the  stanza, 

Lands  intersected  by  a  narrow  firth 
Abhor  each  other, 

but  that  they  will,  by  mutual  intercourse,  arrive  at  the 
last  line  of  that  stanza,  and  "like  kindred  drops,  be  mingled 
into  one."     (Warm  applause.) 


CHAPTER  X 
WORKING  THE  LINE 

Tests — Apparatus — First  Messages — Gradual  Failing — 
The  "Last  Gasp" — Engineering  Success — Electrical 
Failure. 

Continuity  Tests  during  Laying. —  As  previ- 
ously mentioned,  two  descriptions  of  instruments 
were  used  on  board  the  ships  for  testing  and 
working  through  while  laying  the  cable.  These 
were  the  "detector"  of  Mr.  Whitehouse  and  Pro- 
fessor Thomson's  reflecting-apparatus. 

The  process  of  testing  consisted  in  sending 
from  one  to  the  other  vessel  alternately,  during  a 
period  of  ten  minutes,  first  a  reversal  every  min- 


WORKING   THE   LINE  145 

ute  for  five  minutes,  and  then  a  current  in  one 
direction  for  five  minutes.  The  results  of  these 
signals  to  test  the  continuity  of  the  line  were  ob- 
served and  recorded  on  board  both  ships.  There 
was  also  a  special  signal  for  each  ten  miles  of 
cable  paid  out  between  the  vessels. 

When  the  splice  was  made  on  July  29th,  72 
degrees  deflection  were  obtained  on  the  Agamem- 
non, from  seventy-five  cells  of  a  sawdust  (Dan- 
iell's)  battery  on  board  the  Niagara,  which  had 
previously  given  83  degrees.  On  arrival  at  Va- 
lentia  at  6.30  a.m.,  on  August  5th,  the  deflection 
on  the  same  instruments  (detector  and  marine 
galvanometer  being  both  in  circuit  as  before)  was 
68  degrees,  while  the  sending-battery  power  on 
the  Niagara  had  fallen  off  at  entry  to  623^  de- 
grees through  the  marine  galvanometer  on  board 
that  vessel.  These  figures  show  that  the  insula- 
tion of  the  cable  had  considerably  improved  by 
submersion,  and  when  the  engineers  had  accom- 
plished their  part  of  the  undertaking,  on  August 
5th,  the  cable  was  handed  over  in  perfect  condi- 
tion to  Mr.  Whitehouse  and  his  electrical  assistant. 

Apparatus  Used  in  Working. — Unfortunately 
for  the  life  of  the  cable,  Mr.  Whitehouse  was  im- 
bued with  a  belief  that  currents  of  very  high  in- 
tensity, or  potential,  were  the  best  for  signaling ; 
and  he  had  enormous  induction-coils,  five  feet 
long,  excited  by  a  series  of  very  large  cells,  yield- 
ing electricity  estimated  at  about  2,000  volts 
potential.  The  insulation  was  unable  to  bear  the 
strain,  and  thus  the  signals  began  to  gradually 
fail.* 

For  something  like  a  week  the  efforts  to  work 

*  The  Life-Story  of  Sir  Charles  Bright,"  ibid. 
10 


146     THE    STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

through  the  cable  with  the  above  apparatus 
proved  ineffectual,  the  power  being  constantly  in- 
creased to  no  purpose.  Professor  Thomson's  re- 
flecting galvanometer,  which  had  worked  so  well 
during  the  voyage,  was  then  used  again  with  ordi- 
nary Daniell  cells. 

Messages. — In  this  way  communication  was 
resumed,  the  first  clear  message  being  received 
from  Newfoundland  on  August  13,  1858,  and 
— after  considerable  delay  in  getting  the  Ameri- 
can receiving-apparatus  ready — on  the  16th  the 
following  was  got  through  from  the  directors  in 
England  to  those  in  United  States : 

Europe  and  America  are  united  by  telegraphy. 
Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth  peace,  good-will 
toward  men! 

Then  followed: 

From  her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain  to 
his  Excellency  the  President  of  the  United  States: 

The  Queen  desires  to  congratulate  the  President 
upon  the  successful  completion  of  this  great  international 
work,  in  which  the  Queen  has  taken  the  greatest  interest. 

The  Queen  is  convinced  that  the  President  will  join 
with  her  in  fervently  hoping  that  the  electric  cable,  which 
now  already  connects  Great  Britain  with  the  United  States, 
will  prove  an  additional  link  between  the  two  nations, 
whose  friendship  is  founded  upon  their  common  interest 
and  reciprocal  esteem. 

The  Queen  has  much  pleasure  in  thus  directly  com- 
municating with  the  President,  and  in  renewing  to  him 
her  best  wishes  for  the  prosperity  of  the  United  States. 

This  message  was  shortly  afterward  responded 
to  as  follows : 


WORKING   THE  LINE  147 

Washington  City. 
The    President    of    the    United  States  to    her    Majesty 
Victoria,  Queen  of  Great  Britain: 

The  President  cordially  reciprocates  the  congratula- 
tions of  her  Majesty  the  Queen  on  the  success  of  the 
great  international  enterprise  accomplished  by  the  skill, 
science,  and  indomitable  energy  of  the  two  countries. 

It  is  a  triumph  more  glorious,  because  far  more  useful 
to  mankind  than  was  ever  won  by  a  conqueror  on  the 
field  of  battle. 

May  the  Atlantic  Telegraph,  under  the  blessing  of 
Heaven,  prove  to  be  a  bond  of  perpetual  peace  and  friend- 
ship between  the  kindred  nations,  and  an  instrument 
destined  by  Divine  Providence  to  diffuse  religion,  civiliza- 
tion, liberty,  and  law  throughout  the  world. 

In  this  view  will  not  all  the  nations  of  Christendom 
spontaneously  unite  in  the  declaration  that  it  shall  be 
forever  neutral  and  that  its  communications  shall  be  held 
sacred  in  passing  to  the  place  of  their  destination,  even 
in  the  midst  of  hostilities? 

James  Buchanan. 

Throughout  the  United  States  the  arrival  of 
the  Queen's  message  was  the  signal  for  a  fresh 
outburst  of  popular  enthusiasm. 

Says  Field: 

The  next  morning,  August  17th,  the  city  of  New 
York  was  awakened  by  the  thunder  of  artillery.  A 
hundred  guns  were  fired  in  the  City  Hall  Park  at  day- 
break, and  the  salute  was  repeated  at  noon.  At  this 
hour  flags  were  flying  from  all  the  public  buildings,  and 
the  bells  of  the  principal  churches  began  to  ring,  as 
Christmas  bells  signal  the  birthday  of  One  who  came  to 
bring  peace  and  good-will  to  men — chimes  that,  it  was 
fondly  hoped,  might  usher  in,  as  they  should,  a  new 
era. 

Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  new, 
Ring  out  the  false,  ring  in  the  true. 


148    THE   STORY   OF  THE  ATLANTIC   CABLE 

That  night  the  city  was  illuminated.  Never  had  it 
seen  so  brilliant  a  spectacle.  Such  was  the  blaze  of  light 
around  the  City  Hall  that  the  cupola  caught  fire  and  was 
consumed,  and  the  hall  itself  narrowly  escaped  destruction. 
But  one  night  did  not  exhaust  the  public  enthusiasm,  for 
the  following  evening  witnessed  one  of  those  displays  for 
which  New  York  surpasses  all  the  cities  of  the  world — a 
firemen's  torchlight  procession.  Moreover,  several 
wagon-loads  (each  containing  about  twelve  miles)  of  the 
cable  left  on  board  the  Niagara  were  drawn  through  the 
principal  streets  of  the  city. 

Similar  demonstrations  took  place  in  other  parts  of 
the  United  States.  From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Valley  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  in  every  city 
was  heard  the  firing  of  guns  and  the  ringing  of  bells. 
Nothing  seemed  too  extravagant  to  give  expression  to  the 
popular  rejoicing. 

The  English  press  were  warm  in  their  recogni- 
tion of  those  to  whom  the  nation  were  "indebted 
for  bringing  into  action  the  greatest  invention  of 
the  age,"  expressing  belief  that  "the  effect  of 
bringing  the  three  kingdoms  and  the  United 
States  into  instantaneous  communication  with 
each  other  will  be  to  render  hostilities  between  the 
two  nations  almost  impossible  for  the  future." 
And  further,  "more  was  done  yesterday  for  the 
consideration  of  our  empire  than  the  wisdom  of 
our  statesmen,  the  liberality  of  our  legislature,  or 
the  loyalty  of  our  colonists  could  ever  have  ef- 
fected."* 

The  sermons  preached  on  the  subject,  both  in 
England  and  America,  were  literally  without 
number.  Enough  found  their  way  into  print  to 
fill  over  one  volume.  Never  had  an  event  more 
deeply  touched  the  spirit  of  religious  enthusiasm. 

*  The  Times,  August  6,  1858. 


WORKING   THE   LINE  149 

With  further  reference  to  the  active  life  of  the 
cable,  the  following  communications  have  some 
interest : 

First  of  all  three  long  congratulatory  messages 
were  transmitted,  one  on  August  18th  from  Mr. 
Peter  Cooper,  president  of  the  New  York,  New- 
foundland, and  London  Telegraph  Company,  to 
the  directors  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company ; 
another  from  the  Mayor  of  New  York  to  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London,  his  reply  in  acknowledgment 
following.  Then  two  of  the  great  Cunard  mail- 
steamers,  the  Europa  and  Arabia,  had  come  into 
collision  on  August  14th.  Neither  the  news  nor 
the  injured  vessels  could  reach  those  concerned  on 
either  side  of  the  Atlantic  for  some  days ;  but  as 
soon  as  it  became  known  in  New  York  a  message 
was  sent  by  the  cable,  a  facsimile  of  the  original 
of  which  is  shown  on  p.  150.  This  first  public 
news  message  showed  the  relief  given  by  speedy 
knowledge  in  dispelling  doubt  and  fear. 

Subsequently  messages  giving  the  news  on  both 
continents  were  transmitted  and  published  daily. 
Among  others,  on  August  27th,  a  despatch  was 
sent  by  the  secretary  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph 
Company  that  was  remarkable  for  the  amount  of 
important  information  contained  in  comparatively 
few  words.     It  read  as  follows  : 

To  Associated  Press,  New  York. — News  for  America 
by  Atlantic  cable: — Emperor  of  France  returned  to  Paris, 
Saturday.  King  of  Prussia  too  ill  to  visit  Queen  Victoria. 
Her  Majesty  returns  to  England,  August  30th.  St.  Peters- 
burg, August  21st — Settlement  of  Chinese  Question: 
Chinese  Empire  opened  to  trade;  Christian  religion 
allowed;  foreign  diplomatic  agents  admitted;  indemnity 
to  England  and  France. 


150    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 


grtlantir  Stogijajh  cjfjmjrang. 


Station 

Received  per  the  A  t Ian tic  Telegraph.  Company, 
the  ftllmving.  Message,  this / X^        day  of 

Commenced    /?    r~L  &ejf t 


<w^  -^z^^e  fa?  S*^-  Z~~is«u 

he   /u^o    &&£        4rt&     i^»t_  <£%>  ^ 


Fig.  31. — Facsimile  of  the  First  Public  News  Message  Received 
through  the  Atlantic  Cable. 


Alexandria,  August  9th. — The  Madras  arrived  at 
Suez  7th  inst.  Dates  Bombay  to  the  19th,  Aden  31st. 
Gwalior  insurgent  army  broken  up.  All  India  becoming 
tranquil. 

The   above    was    published   in   the   American 
papers  the  same  day. 

Further,    as    exemplifying   the   aid   the    cable 


WORKING    THE   LINE  151 

afforded  to  the  British  Government,  mention  may 
be  made  of  two  messages  sent  from  the  com- 
mander-in-chief at  the  Horse  Guards,  on  August 
31st.  Following  the  quelling  of  the  Indian 
mutiny,  they  were  despatched  for  the  purpose  of 
canceling  previous  orders  which  had  already  gone 
by  mail  to  Canada. 

The  first,  to  General  Trollope,  Halifax,  ran  as 
follows :  "The  Sixty-second  Regiment  is  not  to 
return  to  England."  The  other,  to  the  officer  in 
command  at  Montreal :  "The  Thirty-ninth  Regi- 
ment is  not  to  return  to  England."  From  £50,- 
000  to  £60,000  was  estimated  by  the  authori- 
ties to  have  been  saved,  in  the  unnecessary  trans- 
portation of  troops,  by  these  two  cable  com- 
munications. 

But  the  insulation  of  the  precious  wire  had,  un- 
happily, been  giving  way.  The  high-potential 
currents  from  Mr.  Whitehouse's  enormous  induc- 
tion-coils were  too  much  for  it ;  and  the  dimin- 
ished flashes  of  light  proved  to  be  only  the  flicker- 
ing of  the  flame  that  was  soon  to  be  extinguished 
in  the  external  darkness  of  the  waters.  After  a 
period  of  confused  signals,  the  line  ultimately 
breathed  its  last  on  October  20th,  after  732  mes- 
sages in  all  had  been  conveyed  during  a  period  of 
three  months.*  The  last  word  uttered — and 
which  may  be  said  to  have  come  from  beyond  the 
sea — was  "forward." 

The  line  had  been  subject  to  frequent  interrup- 
tions throughout.  The  wonder  is  that  it  did  so 
much,  when  we  consider  the  lack  of  experience  at 
that  period  in  the  manufacture  of  deep-sea  cables, 
the  short  time  allowed,  and,  more  than  all,  the 

*  Submarine  Telegraphs. 


152    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

treatment  received  after  being  laid.  It  is,  indeed, 
extremely  doubtful  whether  any  cable,  even  of  the 
present  day,  would  long  stand  a  trial  with  cur- 
rents so  generated,  and  of  such  intensity.*  An 
unusually  violent  lightning-storm  occurred  at 
Newfoundland  shortly  after  the  cable  had  been 
laid.  This  was  considered  a  part  cause  of  the 
actual  failure  of  the  line. 

When  all  the  efforts  of  the  electricians  failed  to 
draw  more  than  a  few  faint  whispers — a  dying 
gasp  from  the  depths  of  the  sea — there  ensued, 
in  the  public  mind,  a  feeling  of  profound  discour- 
agement. But  what  a  bitter  disappointment  for 
those  officially  concerned  in  the  enterprise !  In 
all  the  experience  of  life  there  are  no  sadder  mo- 
ments than  those  in  which,  after  much  anxious 
toil  in  striving  for  a  great  object,  and  after  a 
glorious  triumph,  the  achievement  that  seemed 
complete  becomes  a  wreck. 

Engineering  Demonstration. — Still  the  engi- 
neer of  this  great  undertaking  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  knowing  that  he  had  demonstrated  ( I )  the 
possibility  of  laying  over  2,000  miles  of  cable  in 
one  continuous  length  across  a  by  no  means  calm 
ocean  at  depths  of  two  to  three  miles;  and  (2) 
that,  by  the  agency  of  an  electric  current,  distinct 
and  regular  signals  could  be  transmitted  and  re- 
ceived throughout  an  insulated  conductor,  even 
when  at  such  a  depth  beneath  the  sea,  across  this 

*  In  his  work  on  the  Electric  Telegraph,  the  late  Mr. 
Robert  Sabine  said:  "At  the  date  of  the  first  Atlantic  cable, 
the  engineering  department  was  far  ahead  of  the  electrical. 
The  cable  was  successfully  laid — mechanically  good,  but 
electrically  bad."  Its  electrical  failure  was,  of  course,  bound 
to  spell  commercial  failure,  no  matter  how  great  its  success 
as  an  engineering  feat. 


WORKING   THE   LINE  153 

vast  distance.      The  feasibility  of  either  of  these 
had  been  scouted  at  on  all  sides.* 

Of  course  the  gutta-percha  coverings  as  then 
applied  can  not  be  compared  with  the  methods 
and  materials  of  later  days,  though  a  great  ad- 
vance on  that  of  previous  cables.  It  was  a  pity 
that — owing  to  the  precipitation  with  which  the 
undertaking  was  rushed  through,  and  the  fear  of 
failure  for  want  of  capital — more  time  was  not 
given  to  the  consideration  of  Bright's  recom- 
mendation for  a  conductor  four  times  larger,  with 
a  corresponding  increase  in  the  gutta-percha  insu- 
lator. Under  such  conditions,  it  is  highly  im- 
probable that  high  potentials  would  have  ever 
been  applied  to  the  line.  Unhappily — besides 
Faraday  and  Whitehouse — Professor  Morse 
(when  advising  the  Board  in  this  matter)  promul- 
gated views  directly  opposed  to  the  above,  as  has 
already  been  shown.  In  the  course  of  his  report 
Morse  had  said : 

That  by  the  use  of  comparatively  small-coated  wires, 
and  of  electro -magnetic  induction-coils  for  the  exciting- 
magnets,  telegraphic  signals  can  be  transmitted  through 

*  In  his  presidential  address  to  the  Institution  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  in  1889,  Lord  Kelvin  (the  Professor  Thomson 
referred  to  in  these  pages)  said:  "The  first  Atlantic  cable 
gave  me  the  happiness  and  privilege  of  meeting  and  working 
with  the  late  Sir  Charles  Bright.  He  was  the  engineer  of 
this  great  undertaking — full  of  vigor,  full  of  enthusiasm. 
We  were  shipmates  on  the  Agamemnon  on  the  ever-memorable 
expedition  of  1858,  during  which  we  were  out  of  sight  of  land 
for  thirty-three  days.  To  Sir  C.  Bright's  vigor,  earnestness, 
and  enthusiasm  was  due  the  successful  laying  of  the  cable. 
We  must  always  feel  deeply  indebted  to  our  late  colleague 
as  a  pioneer  in  that  great  work,  when  other  engineers  would 
not  look  at  it,  and  thought  it  absolutely  impracticable." 


154    THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

two  thousand  miles,  with  a  speed  amply  sufficient  for  all 
commercial  and  economical  purposes. 

Still  the  cable,  inadequately  constructed  as  it 
was  from  an  electrical  point  of  view,  would  prob- 
ably have  worked  for  years — though  slowly,  of 
course — had  the  fairly  reasonable  battery-power 
employed  between  the  ships  and  up  to  the  success- 
ful termination  of  the  expeditions  been  continued 
in  connection  with  Professor  Thomson's  delicate 
reflecting-apparatus.  The  electrician,  however, 
not  only  used  much  higher  power  immediately  he 
took  the  cable  in  hand — for  working  his  specially 
devised  relay  and  Morse  electromagnetic  record- 
ing-instrument in  connection  with  his  enormous 
induction-coils — but  actually  increased  the  power 
from  time  to  time  up  to  nearly  500  cells,  till  the 
five-foot  coils  yielded  a  current  urged  by  a  poten- 
tial of  something  like  2,000  volts.  Hence,  when 
signaling  was  resumed,  as  shown  by  the  compara- 
tively mild  voltaic  currents,  for  actuating  the 
Thomson  apparatus,  a  fault  (or  faults)  had  been 
already  developed,  necessitating  a  far  higher  bat- 
tery-power than  had  been  employed  during  the 
continuous  communication  between  the  ships 
while  paying  out. 

The  wounds  opened  farther  under  the  various 
stimulating  doses;  the  insulation  was  unable  to 
bear  the  strain,  and  the  circulation  gradually 
ceased  through  a  cable  already  in  a  state  of  dis- 
solution. 


THE   INQUEST  155 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  INQUEST 

Expert  Trials — Expert  Evidence 

The  great  historical  sea-line  having  collapsed, 
some  of  the  foremost  of  the  electrical  profession 
were  called  in — first  to  determine  the  nature  of 
the  interruption  with  a  view  to  possible  remedy, 
next  to  elicit  the  cause. 

Expert  Opinions  on  the  Failure. — Mr.  Crom- 
well Fleetwood  Varley,  the  electrician  to  the 
Electric  Telegraph  Company,  Mr.  E.  B.  Bright, 
the  chief  of  the  "Magnetic"  Company ;  and  Mr. 
W.  T.  Henley,  the  well-known  telegraph  inventor, 
were  severally  requested  by  the  "Atlantic"  Com- 
pany to  report  on  the  subject  in  conjunction  with 
Sir  Charles  Bright  and  Professor  Thomson. 

First  of  all  the  dead  line  was  subjected  to  a 
series  of  tests.  For  this,  resistance-coils  and 
Messrs.  Bright's  apparatus  for  ascertaining  the 
position  of  a  fault  were  employed.  There  was 
every  evidence  of  a  serious  electrical  leakage  about 
300  miles  from  Valentia,  but  there  did  not  appear 
to  be  any  fracture  in  the  conductor,  as  exceed- 
ingly weak  currents  still  came  through  fitfully. 
According  to  the  above  location,  the  main  leak 
through  the  gutta-percha  envelope  was  in  water 
of  a  depth  of  about  two  miles.  At  that  time 
means  were  not  devised  for  grappling  and  lifting 


156    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

a  cable  from  such  depths.  But  from  independent 
tests  by  Thomson  and  Bright,  it  appeared  likely 
that  the  Valentia  shore  end  was  also  especially 
faulty.  Accordingly,  it  was  underrun  from  the 
catamaran-raft  (previously  used  in  1857)  f°r 
some  three  miles,  but,  on  being  cut  at  the  farthest 
point  at  which  it  was  found  possible  to  raise  the 
cable,  the  fault  still  appeared  on  the  seaward  side. 
The  idea  of  repairs  had,  therefore,  to  be  aban- 
doned, and  the  cable  was  spliced  up  again. 

The  conductor  being  again  intact,  efforts  were 
made  to  renew  signals  with  the  curb-key  recently 
invented  by  Messrs.  Bright.  By  means  of  this, 
currents  of  opposite  character  were  transmitted 
so  that  each  signaling  current  was  followed  in- 
stantly by  one  of  opposite  polarity,  which  neutral- 
ized, by  a  proportionate  strength  and  duration,  all 
that  remained  of  its  predecessor.  Though  this 
was  the  right  principle  on  which  to  work,  the 
"patient"  was  too  far  gone,  and  all  efforts  proved 
unavailing ;  for  signaling  purposes  the  poor  cable 
was  defunct. 

Having  dealt  with  the  nature  of  the  interrup- 
tion, we  now  come  to  the  cause.  It  was  first  of 
all  abundantly  clear  from  the  station-diaries  kept 
by  the  electricians  at  Valentia  and  Newfoundland, 
and  by  other  irrefragable  evidence,  that  when  the 
laying  was  completed,  and  the  cable  ends  were 
handed  over  to  them  from  the  ships  on  August 
5th,  all  was  in  good  working  order. 

The  authorities  were  unanimous  in  their  opin- 
ion. Mr.  C.  F.  Varley  declared  that  "had  a  more 
moderate  power  been  used,  the  cable  would  still 
have  been  capable  of  transmitting  messages."  In 
giving  extra  force  to  the  above  opinion,  Mr.  Var- 


THE   INQUEST  1 57 

ley  described  an  experiment  he  had  made  on  the 
cable  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  E.  B.  Bright: 

We  attached  to  the  cable  a  piece  of  gutta-percha- 
covered  wire,  having  first  made  a  slight  incision,  by  a 
needle-prick,  in  the  gutta-percha  to  let  the  water  reach 
the  conductor.  The  wire  was  then  bent,  so  as  to  close  up 
the  defect.  The  defective  wire  was  then  placed  in  a  jar  of 
sea-water,  and  the  latter  connected  with  the  earth.  After 
a  few  momentary  signals  had  been  sent  from  the  five-foot 
induction-coils  into  the  cable,  and,  consequently  into  the 
test-wire,  the  intense  current  burst  through  the  excessively 
minute  perforation,  rapidly  burning  a  hole  nearly  one- 
tenth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  afterward  increased  to  half 
an  inch  in  length  when  passing  the  current  through  the 
faulty  branch  only.  The  burned  gutta-percha  then  came 
floating  up  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  while  the  jar  was 
one  complete  glow  of  light. 

Professor  Hughes,  the  inventor  of  the  type- 
printing  telegraph,  and,  subsequently,  of  the 
microphone,  considered  that  "the  cable  was  in- 
jured by  the  induction-coils,  and  that  the  intense 
currents  developed  by  them  were  strong  enough 
to  burst  through  gutta-percha."  Professor 
Wheatstone  gave  a  similar  opinion. 

Some  one  inquired  of  the  electrician  whether,  if 
any  one  touched  the  cable  at  the  time  when  the 
current  was  discharged  from  the  induction-coil, 
he  would  receive  a  shock  sufficiently  strong  to 
cause  him  to  faint.  It  was  admitted  in  reply  that 
"those  who  touched  the  bare  wire  would  suffer 
for  their  carelessness,  though  not  if  discretion  be 
exercised  by  grasping  the  gutta-percha  only." 

The  chairman  of  the  company  (the  Right  Hon- 
orable J.  Stuart  Wortley,  M.P.),  in  the  course  of 
a  deputation  to  Lord  Palmerston  later  on,  stated 


158  THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

that  "far  too  high  charges  of  electricity  were 
forced  into  the  conductor.  It  was  evidently 
thought  at  that  time  by  certain  electricians  that 
you  could  not  charge  a  cable  of  this  sort  too 
highly.  Thus  they  proceeded  somewhat  like  the 
man  who  bores  a  hole  with  a  poker  in  a  deal 
board ;  he  gets  the  hole,  to  be  sure,  but  the  board 
is  burned  in  the  operation." 

Professor  Thomson  (now  Lord  Kelvin),  writ- 
ing in  i860,  expressed  the  following  opinion: 

It  is  quite  certain  that,  with  a  properly  adjusted 
mirror-galvanometer  as  receiving-instrument  at  each  end, 
twenty  cells  of  Daniell's  battery  would  have  done  the 
work  required,  and  at  even  a  higher  speed  if  worked  by 
a  key  devised  for  diminishing  inductive  embarrassment; 
and  the  writer — with  the  knowledge  derived  from  dis- 
astrous experience — has  now  little  doubt  but  that,  if 
such  had  been  the  arrangement  from  the  beginning,  if  no 
induction-coils  and  no  battery-power  exceeding  twenty 
Daniell  cells  had  ever  been  applied  to  the  cable  since  the 
landing  of  its  ends,  imperfect  as  it  then  was,  it  would  be 
now  in  full  work  day  and  night,  with  no  prospect  or  proba- 
bility of  failure* 

Summing  up  the  cause  of  the  untimely  ending 
to  the  ill-used  cable,  perhaps  the  concisest  verdict 
would  be,  in  mechanical-engineering  parlance, 
that  "high-pressure  steam  had  been  got  up  in  a 
low-pressure  boiler." 

*  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  8th  edition,  i860.  Article  on 
The  Electric  Telegraph,  by  Prof.  W.  Thomson,  F.R.S. 


PART    III 

INTERMEDIATE    KNOWLEDGE    AND 
ADVANCE 


CHAPTER  XII 

OTHER  PROPOSED  ROUTES 

North  Atlantic  Telegraph  Project — Exploring  Expedition — 
Ice  Troubles — South  Atlantic  Telegraph  Project. 

The  gradual  failure  of  the  1858  cable  after  a 
short  period  of  working,  and  the  slow  rate  at 
which  messages  were  capable  of  being  trans- 
mitted, naturally  deterred  capitalists  from  provi- 
ding the  means  for  another  cable  of  such  length  in 
deep  water. 

Several  schemes,  however,  for  a  fresh  line  on 
other  routes  were  brought  forward ;  and  there  was 
an  alternative  route  between  Great  Britain  and 
America  by  which  the  transmission  of  the  electric 
current  could  be  subdivided  into  four  compara- 
tively short  sections.  This  was  known  in  i860  as 
the  North  Atlantic  Telegraph  project,  in  which 
the  route  was  from  the  extreme  north  of  Scotland 
to  the  Faroe  Islands,  thence  to  Iceland ;  from 
there  to  the  southern  point  of  Greenland,  and  so 
on  to  Labrador  or  Newfoundland.  The  distances 
were  (varying  a  little  according  to  landing-places 
selected)  approximately: 

Miles 
From  the  north  of  Scotland  to  Faroe  Islands  .  .  225 
From  the  Faroe  Islands  to  Iceland  ....       280 

"     Iceland  to  Greenland,  S.  W.  Harbor       .         .       700 

"     Greenland  to  Labrador  ....       550 

Total 1755 

11  161 


OTHER  PROPOSED   ROUTES  163 

From  the  electrician's  point  of  view,  these  sub- 
divisions were  extremely  favorable  as  compared 
with  the  long  continuous  length  entailed  by  an 
Atlantic  cable  between  Ireland  and  Newfound- 
land. Then,  again,  the  soundings  (except  for  a 
section  between  Greenland  and  Labrador)  did  not 
yield  anything  approaching  the  more  southern 
depths.  But  against  these  obvious  advantages 
there  was  the  engineering  objection — which  at 
first  seemed  insurmountable — that  the  Greenland 
coast  was  bound  up  by  ice  for  a  great  part  of  the 
year,  in  addition  to  the  risk  of  injury  to  the  cable 
from  the  grounding  of  icebergs.  This  latter  was 
of  less  moment,  for  it  could  be  provided  against 
by  keeping  the  cable  when  approaching  shore  in 
the  middle  of  any  inlet,  and  thus  away  from  the 
shallow  sides  where  the  icebergs  "ground." 
There  was  also  the  probable  difficulty  of  obtaining 
a  trained  staff  to  work  a  line  when  laid  to  such 
inhospitable  regions.  However,  having  regard  to 
the  anxiety  exhibited  by  many  to  get  to  the  North 
Pole,  this  did  not  present  an  insuperable  obstacle. 

This  bold  project,  with  a  route  across  the  cold- 
est and  iciest  regions  of  the  Atlantic,  was  origi- 
nally brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Danish  Govern- 
ment by  Mr.  Wyld,  the  geographer,  even  before 
the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company  had  been  estab- 
lished. It  was  again  introduced  in  a  different 
form  by  Colonel  T.  P.  Shaffner,  an  American 
electrician  of  some  note.  Colonel  Shaffner  made 
a  strong  case  of  the  series  of  short  stages  geo- 
graphically afforded  by  the  North  Atlantic  devia- 
tion. After  the  1858  cable  had  ceased  working, 
to  back  up  his  belief  in  the  advantages  of  the 
route,  which  he  characterized  as  having  "natural 


1 64    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

stepping-stones  which  Providence  had  placed 
across  the  ocean  in  the  north,"  he  actually  char- 
tered a  small  sailing  vessel,  and,  with  his  family 
on  board,  put  forth  from  Boston  on  August  29th, 
1859,  f°r  the  purpose  of  making  the  preliminary 
survey.  He  landed  in  Glasgow  in  November  of 
that  year,  and  presented  to  the  public  the  results 
of  his  voyage.  During  the  voyage,  Colonel 
ShafTner  sounded  the  deep  seas  to  be  traversed 
between  Labrador  and  Greenland  and  between 
Greenland  and  Iceland.  His  first  object  was 
to  convince  the  public  that  there  were  no  in- 
superable difficulties  in  the  way.  He  found  a 
warm  supporter  in  Mr.  J.  Rodney  Croskey,  of 
London,  who  advanced  the  "caution"  money  to 
the  Danish  Government  for  the  concessions 
requisite  in  the  Faroes,  Iceland,  and  Greenland.* 

On  May  15th,  Lord  Palmerston  granted  an 
audience  to  an  influential  deputation,  headed  by 
the  Right  Honorable  Milner  Gibson,  M.P.,  and 
four  other  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  to 
solicit  the  assistance  of  Government  in  sending 
out  ships  and  officers  to  make  the  necessary  offi- 
cial survey  for  ascertaining  the  practicability  of 
the  proposed  route.  The  Premier  appeared  fully 
to  appreciate  the  advantages  of  the  north-about 
scheme,  and  in  a  very  short  time  the  Admiralty 
were  directed  to  send  out  an  expedition  for  the 
purpose  of  making  the  required  survey. 

The  Admiralty  selected  for  this  duty  Captain 
M'Clintock,  R.N.,*  an  officer  of  great  experience 

*  Mr.  Croskey  also  subsequently  found  the  bulk  of  the 
capital  for  the  exploring  expeditions. 

f  Later  Admiral  Sir  Leopold  M'Clintock,  K.C.B.,  LL.D., 
F.R.S. 


OTHER  PROPOSED   ROUTES  165 

in  the  navigation  of  the  Arctic  seas,  and  H.M.S. 
Bulldog  was  placed  under  his  command.  This 
distinguished  officer  was  directed  to  take  the 
deep-sea  soundings,  and  he  sailed  from  Ports- 
mouth on  his  mission  in  June,  i860.  In  the 
meantime,  the  promoters  of  the  enterprise  pur- 
chased the  Fox,  the  steam-yacht  formerly  em- 
ployed in  the  successful  search  for  the  remains  of 
the  Franklin  expedition,  and  fitted  her  out  for  the 
purpose  of  making  surveys  of  the  landing-places 
of  the  respective  cables.  The  Fox  was  placed 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Young, f  of  the 
mercantile  marine,  an  officer  well  known  for  his 
distinguished  labors  under  M'Qintock  in  the 
Franklin  search.  At  the  same  time,  Dr.  John 
Rae,  F.R.G.S.,  an  intrepid  Arctic  explorer,  volun- 
teered his  services  to  join  the  Fox,  and  take 
charge  of  the  overland  expeditions  in  the  Faroe 
Isles,  Iceland,  and  Greenland.  Colonel  Shaffner, 
as  concessionaire — besides  two  delegates  on  the 
part  of  the  Danish  Government,  Lieutenant  von 
Zeilau  and  Ami  jot  Olafsson — also  accompanied 
the  Fox  expedition,  to  take  part  in  the  necessary 
surveys. 

Before  the  departure  of  the  Fox,  which  sailed 
on  July  18,  i860,  her  Majesty  Queen  Victoria, 
the  Prince  Consort,  and  other  members  of  the 
royal  family,  honored  the  enterprise  by  a  visit 
to  that  vessel,  while  lying  off  Osborne,  and 
showed  a  lively  interest  in  the  details  of  the  expe- 
dition. 

On  the  return  of  the  expedition,  Sir  Leopold 
M'Clintock  wrote  a  full  report  to  Sir  Charles 
Bright,  the  consulting  engineer   of  the  project. 

*  Now  Sir  Allen  Young,  C.B. 


166    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

In  this,  Sir  Leopold  favored  the  route  as  perfectly 
practicable,  pointing  out  that  the  ice  would  not 
really  prove  a  difficulty,  and  strongly  approving 
of  the  original  intention  of  a  land-line  across  Ice- 
land to  Faxe  Bay,  "as  by  so  doing  you  will  avoid 
the  only  part  of  the  sea  where  submarine  volcanic 
disturbances  may  be  suspected." 

The  results  of  the  voyages  of  H.M.S.  Bulldog 
and  the  steam-yacht  Fox  were  brought  before  a 
crowded  meeting  of  the  Royal  Geographical  So- 
ciety on  January  28,  1861.  Sir  Leopold  M'Clin- 
tock  then  gave  the  first  public  account  of  his 
numerous  and  careful  soundings  along,  and  in  the 
vicinity  of,  the  proposed  course  of  the  cable,  inter- 
spersed with  many  useful  remarks  and  hints  as  to 
ice,  the  best  time  for  laying  the  line,  etc.,  as  well 
as  the  probable  sphere  of  volcanic  action  in  and 
off  the  south  of  Iceland.  The  above  was  fol- 
lowed by  an  exhaustive  paper  by  Sir  Charles 
Bright,  giving  a  synopsis  of  Captain  Young's 
report  on  his  voyage  in  the  Fox,  including  the 
examination  of  various  estuaries  and  harbors, 
so  as  to  enable  a  decision  to  be  arrived  at  as 
to  the  best  landing-places,  the  climatic  condi- 
tions, etc. 

From  both  sets  of  soundings  it  was  shown  that, 
as  a  rule,  the  bottom  was  of  ooze.  Dr.  Wallich, 
the  naturalist  of  the  expedition,  had  brought  up 
brightly  colored  starfish  from  depths  of  over  a 
mile,  whereas  it  had  previously  been  believed  that 
nothing  could  possibly  live  under  such  an  enor- 
mous pressure  of  water. 

Then  came  a  highly  instructive  paper  by  Dr. 
Rae.  He  gave  a  number  of  interesting  particu- 
lars of  his  land  surveys,  the  population,  price  of 


1 68    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

food,  wages,  etc.  He  also  described  the  ride  of 
the  Fox  party  across  Iceland,  while  making  im- 
portant suggestions  as  to  the  route  for  the  land- 
line  with  a  view  to  avoiding  the  geysers. 

Captain  R.  B.  Beechey,  R.N.,  afterward  made 
a  beautiful  oil-painting  of  the  party,  including 
some  of  the  Eskimos  on  the  occasion  of  landing 
to  explore  the  inland  ice  at  Igaliko  Fiord   (see 

Fig.  33);*  . 

At  this  time,  however  (1861),  there  was  still 
too  much  discouragement  owing  to  the  stoppage 
in  working  of  the  first  Atlantic  cable,  and  to  other 
causes  with  which  we  are  about  to  deal.  More- 
over, there  were  those  who  still  feared  the  ice- 
floes ;  and  in  the  end  the  public  did  not  respond 
sufficiently.  Thus,  after  all,  the  "Grand  North 
Atlantic  Telegraph"  project,  which  had  been 
worked  out  with  so  much  trouble  and  expense, 
was  never  actually  realized. 

Another  scheme  which  attracted  some  atten- 
tion about  the  same  time  was  described  as  the 
"South  Atlantic  Telegraph."  This  was  for  a 
long  length  of  cable  between  the  south  of  Spain 
and  the  coast  of  Brazil,  touching  at  Madeira,  the 
Canary  Islands,  Cape  de  Verde  Isles,  Don  Pedro, 
and  Fernando  de  Noronha  Isles  on  the  way,  and 
stretching  out  to  the  West  Indies  and  the  United 
States.  Then  there  was  a  project  for  a  cable  on 
an  intermediate  route  from  Portugal  to  the 
Azores,  and  thence  to  America,  via  Bermuda  and 
the  Southern  States.     Being,  however,  to  a  great 

*  The  reproduction  given  here  is  from  a  photograph  kindly 
lent  by  Sir  Allen  Young. 


EXPERIENCE,  INVESTIGATION,  PROGRESS     169 

extent  foreign  in  their  scope,  these  latter  schemes 
found  little  favor  in  this  country  at  the  time. 
They  have,  however,  since  been  realized  in  some 
shape  or  form. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

EXPERIENCE,  INVESTIGATION,  AND 
PROGRESS 

The  Red  Sea  Line — Government  Inquiry — Electrical 
Standards  and  Units — Further  Cables — Improve- 
ments in  Manufacture,  Testing,  and  Working — Com- 
pletion of  Pioneer  Stage. 

The  Red  Sea  Line. — Mr.  Lionel  Gisborne  had 
obtained  powers  from  the  Turkish  Government 
to  carry  a  telegraph-line  across  Egypt  and  lay  a 
cable  down  the  Red  Sea.  The  importance  of  this 
line  to  Great  Britain  led  the  Government  to  give 
definite  assistance. 

The  first  portion  of  the  proposed  cable — from 
Suez  to  Aden,  with  intermediate  landings — was 
laid  in  1859.  The  different  sections  broke  down 
one  by  one.  They  were  all  laid  very  taut,  the 
slack  in  some  cases  being  less  than  one  per  cent, 
though  the  bottom  was  in  certain  parts  very  un- 
even. The  second  portion  of  the  line,  from  Aden 
to  Kurrachee,  with  intermediate  stations,  was  laid 
during  i860,  the  slack  working  out  at  0.1  per  cent 
only.  Faults  developed  very  quickly  in  all  the 
sections  of  both  portions  of  the  line.  Apart  from 
the  small  allowance  for  slack,  the  type  of  cable 


170    THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

adopted  was  of  far  too  fragile  a  nature  for  some 
of  its  rough,  reef -like  resting-spots ;  indeed,  the 
undertaking  was  spoken  of  as  "like  running  a 
donkey  for  the  Leger"  !  The  promoters  of  this 
enterprise,  having  neither  specially  qualified  men 
nor  the  necessary  materials  for  carrying  out  re- 
pairs, were  obliged  to  abandon  it  before  any  com- 
mercial work  had  been  effected.  This  was  a  most 
unfortunate  line  in  every  way,  for  a  complete, 
message  was  never  got  through  the  entire  length, 
but  only  through  each  section  separately.  Never- 
theless, until  quite  recently,  it  cost  Great  Britain 
£36,000  per  annum. 

Inquiry  on  the  Construction  of  Submarine 
Telegraphs. — Aroused  more  especially  by  the 
above  failure,  the  Government,  in  1859,  before 
undertaking  further  responsibility,  resolved  to 
thoroughly  investigate  the  construction  of  cables. 
It  was  also  felt  that  the  ultimate  failure  of  the 
Atlantic  line  was  possibly  due,  in  part,  to  weak 
joints  and  general  defects  in  the  manufacture  of 
the  insulating  envelope.  This  committee — under 
the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  with  Captain, 
afterward  Sir  Douglas,  Galton,  R.E.,  in  the  chair 
— devoted  twenty-two  sittings  (covering  a  con- 
siderable period  of  time)  to  questioning  engi- 
neers, electricians,  professors,  physicists,  manu- 
facturers, and  seamen,  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
various  branches  of  cable-work  and  whose  knowl- 
edge or  experience  might  throw  light  on  the  sub- 
ject. Investigations  .were  instituted  concerning 
the  structure  of  all  cables  previously  made,  and 
the  quality  of  the  different  materials  used,  as  to 
special  points  arising  during  manufacture  and 
laying,  on  the  routes  taken,  electrical  testing,  and 


EXPERIENCE,  INVESTIGATION,  PROGRESS     171 

on  sending  and  receiving  instruments,  speed  of 
signaling,  etc.  Actual  experiments  were  also 
made  in  connection  with  this  inquiry,  to  ascertain 
( 1 )  the  electrical  and  mechanical  qualities  of  cop- 
per, pure  and  alloyed ;  also  of  gutta-percha  and 
other  insulating  substances;  (2)  the  chemical 
change  in  their  condition  when  submerged;  (3) 
the  effects  of  temperature  and  pressure  on  the 
insulating  substances  employed;  (4)  the  elonga- 
tion and  breaking  strain  of  copper  wires ;  of  iron, 
steel,  and  tarred  hemp  separately  and  combined ; 
(5)  the  phenomena  connected  with  electrically 
charging  and  discharging  conductors;  (6) 
methods  of  testing  conductors  and  of.  locating 
faults ;  besides  the  whole  science  and  practise  of 
cable-making  and  laying. 

The  report  of  the  committee  was  not  published 
till  some  time  afterward.  It  expressed  a  convic- 
tion that  submarine  telegraphy  might  be  made 
sure  and  remunerative  in  the  future,  based  on  the 
evidence  adduced  regarding  the  proper  manufac- 
ture and  working  of  submarine  telegraphs. 

Formulation  of  Electrical  Standards  and  Units. 
— This  inquiry  wTas  shortly  followed  by  an  impor- 
tant paper  before  the  British  Association  for  the 
advancement  of  science  by  Sir  Charles  Bright  and 
Mr.  Latimer  Clark  (then  in  partnership),  which 
put  the  practise  of  electrical  testing  on  a  system- 
atic basis,  thereby  considerably  forwarding  all 
electrical  work  connected  with  submarine  teleg- 
raphy. A  committee  was  formed  shortly  after- 
ward, which  gave  the  suggestions  then  brought 
forward  the  seal  of  universal  officialdom. 

Further  Cables. — About  this  time  a  number  of 
other  cable  enterprises  were  set  afoot,  some  in 


172     THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

shallow  water  and  others  in  comparatively  great 
depths.  Though  few  of  them  were  able  to  benefit 
by  the  information  obtained  in  the  inquiry,  they 
were,  in  the  main,  more  or  less  successful.  These 
projects  included  cables  between  Malta  and  Alex- 
andria, besides  others  in  the  Mediterranean  and 
elsewhere.  Sir  Charles  Bright,  Mr.  (afterward 
Sir  C.  W.)  Siemens,  Mr.  Lionel  Gisborne,  and 
Mr.  H.  C.  Forde  were  mainly  associated  with 
them  as  engineers  and  electricians.  The  line 
which  met,  however,  with  the  most  complete  and 
lasting  success  was  the  first  cable  to  India,  laid 
(by  Sir  Charles  Bright)  in  several  sections  along 
the  Persian  Gulf  in  i863-'64.  In  this  underta- 
king Messrs.  Bright  &  Clark  (engineers  to  the 
Government)  introduced  a  complete  system  of 
electrical  and  mechanical  testing.  Every  joint 
was,  for  the  first  time,  efficiently  tested,  and  the 
insulated  core  submitted  to  a  hydraulic  pressure 
representative  of  that  which  it  would  experience 
when  laid.*  A  formula  was  also  arrived  at  by  an 
elaborate  series  of  experiments  for  the  effect  of 
temperature  on  the  insulation,  which  showed  how 
enormously  the  resistance  of  gutta-percha  in- 
creased by  consolidation  when  submitted  to  the 
low  temperatures  of  the  bottom  of  the  ocean. 
Chatterton's  compound  had  been  already  intro- 
duced for  adhering  the  gutta-percha  envelope  to 
the  wires,  as  well  as  for  cementing  together  the 
different  insulating  coats;  but  Bright  &  Clark's 
preservative  composition  for  the  iron  armor  was 
first  used  in  this  enterprise.      This  mixture  not 

*  In  consolidating  the  texture  of  the  gutta-percha,  pressure 
increases  its  electrical  resistance,  unless  a  flaw  exists  such  as 
would  then  be  immediately  brought  to  light. 


EXPERIENCE,  INVESTIGATION,  PROGRESS     173 

only  evades  the  oxidation  that  iron  wires,  even 
when  galvanized,  are  subject  to,  but  resists  the 
attacks  of  the  teredo  and  other  objectionable  ani- 
mal life.  Moreover,  besides  the  type  of  cable 
being  eminently  suitable,  the  manufacture  was 
carried  out  with  extreme  care  and  with  all  the 
advantage  of  experience  and  improved  methods.* 

Completion  of  Pioneer  Stage. — With  the  suc- 
cessful termination  of  the  above  enterprise,  form- 
ing the  first  telegraphic  connection  between  the 
United  Kingdom,  Europe,  and  India,  the  science 
of  constructing  and  laying  submarine  telegraphs 
was  pretty  definitely  worked  out,  and  no  very 
striking  departure  has  since  been  introduced. 
The  pioneer  stage  may,  indeed,  at  this  juncture, 
be  said  to  have  reached  completion. 

For  this  reason  the  rest  of  our  narrative  on  the 
Atlantic  cable  will  be  told  more  briefly — though 
at  greater  length  than  the  contents  of  this  chapter, 
recounting  only  the  stepping-stones  to  what  was 
to  follow. 

*  See  Submarine  Telegraphs. 


PART   IV 

:OMMERCIAL   SUCCESS 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  1865  CABLE  AND  EXPEDITION 

Fresh  Efforts  and  Funds — The  Contractors'  Share — De- 
sign and  Construction — Provisions  for  Laying — S.S. 
Great  Eastern — Sailing  Staff — Landing  the  Irish 
End — Another  Bad  Start. 

Fresh  Efforts  and  Funds. — Though  their  cable 
had  ceased  to  work,  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Com- 
pany was  kept  alive  by  the  promoters. 

In  1862  the  Government  was  prevailed  on  to 
despatch  H.M.S.  Porcupine  to  further  examine 
the  ocean  floor  300  miles  out  from  the  coasts  of 
Ireland  and  Newfoundland,  respectively. 

It  took  a  considerable  time  to  raise  the  full 
amount  of  capital  required  for  another  Atlantic 
cable,  for  this  could  only  be  done  gradually.  The 
great  civil  war  in  America  stimulated  capitalists 
to  renew  the  undertaking.  One  of  the  main  ad- 
vantages adduced  was,  on  this  occasion  as  before, 
the  avoidance  of  misunderstandings  between  the 
two  countries.  Another — intended  by  Mr.  Cyrus 
Field  as  a  special  inducement  to  his  fellow  coun- 
trymen— was  the  improvement  of  the  agricultural 
position  of  the  United  States,  by  extending  to  it 
the  facilities  already  enjoyed  by  France  of  com- 
manding the   foreign   grain-markets.*     On  this 

*  Mr.  Field  compassed  land  and  sea  incessantly  for  the 
purpose  of  agitating  the  subject.  He  is  said  to  have  crossed 
the  Atlantic  altogether  sixty-four  times — suffering  from  sea 
sickness  on  each  occasion — in  connection  with  this  great  en- 
terprise in  which  he  formed  so  prominent  a  figure. 
12  177 


178  THE  STORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

account  the  project  was   warmly   supported  by 
John  Bright  and  other  eminent  free-traders. 

Mr.  Field,  however,  met  with  as  little  success 
in  obtaining  pecuniary  support  in  the  States  as  he 
had  in  connection  with  the  previous  line.  His 
brother,  Mr.  H.  M.  Field,  writes  : 

The  summer  of  this  year  (1862)  Mr.  Field  spent  in 
America,  where  he  applied  himself  vigorously  to  raising 
capital  for  the  new  enterprise.  To  this  end  he  visited 
Boston,  Providence,  Philadelphia,  Albany,  and  Buffalo,  to 
address  meetings  of  merchants  and  others.  He  used  to 
amuse  us  with  the  account  of  his  visit  to  the  first  city, 
where  he  was  honored  with  the  attendance  of  a  large 
array  of  "the  solid  men  of  Boston,"  who  listened  with  an 
attention  that  was  most  flattering  to  the  pride  of  the 
speaker  addressing  such  an  assemblage  in  the  capital  of 
his  native  State.  There  was  no  mistaking  the  interest 
they  felt  in  the  subject.  They  went  still  further;  they 
passed  a  series  of  resolutions,  in  which  they  applauded  the 
projected  telegraph  across  the  ocean  as  one  of  the  grandest 
enterprises  ever  undertaken  by  man,  which  they  proudly 
commended  to  the  confidence  and  support  of  the  American 
public.  After  this  they  went  home  feeling  that  they  had 
done  the  generous  thing  in  bestowing  upon  it  such  a  mark 
of  their  approbation.     But  not  a  man  subscribed  a  dollar. 

In  point  of  fact,  as  before,  the  cable  of  1865 — 
as  well  as  that  of  1866— was  provided  for  out  of 
English  pockets.  Let  us  now  substantiate  this 
statement  by  a  glance  at  events.  The  late  Mr. 
Thomas  Brassey  was  the  first  to  be  appealed 
to  in  England,  and  he  supported  the  venture 
nobly.  Then  Mr.  Pender*  was  applied  to,  and 
here  also  substantial  aid  was  forthcoming.     Both 

*  Afterward  Sir  John  Pender,  G.C.M.G.,  M.P. 


THE    1865    CABLE   AND   EXPEDITION        179 

these  gentlemen  had  joined  the  board  of  the  Tele- 
graph Construction  and  Maintenance  Company, 
which  had  just  been  formed  (in  April,  1864)  as 
the  result  of  an  amalgamation  of  the  Gutta-Percha 
Company  and  Messrs.  Glass,  Elliot  &  Co.  Mr. 
Pender,  who  had  been  largely  instrumental  in  ef- 
fecting this  combination,  became  the  first  chair- 
man. 

The  Contractors'  Share. — Shortly  after  the  first 
Atlantic  cable  was  laid,  Messrs.  Glass,  Elliot  & 
Co.  availed  themselves  of  the  services  of  Mr.  Can- 
ning and  Mr.  Clifford,  whose  engagements  on 
Sir  Charles  Bright's  staff  for  the  "Atlantic"  Com- 
pany had  terminated.  Thus,  with  an  additional 
staff  of  electricians,  they  had  placed  themselves  in 
a  position  to  undertake  direct  contracts  for  laying, 
as  well  as  manufacturing,  submarine  telegraphs. 
They  had,  indeed,  carried  out  work  of  this  charac- 
ter in  the  Mediterranean  during  the  year  i860; 
and  on  the  amalgamation  of  the  two  businesses 
above  mentioned  into  a  limited  liability  company, 
their  position  was  still  further  strengthened. 

The  capital  raised  for  the  new  cable  by  the 
Atlantic  Telegraph  Company  was  £600,000 ;  and, 
by  agreeing  to  take  a  considerable  proportion  of 
their  payment  in  "Atlantic"  shares,  the  contractors 
practically  found  more  than  half  of  this  amount. 
In  the  result,  the  undertaking  became  a  con- 
tractors' affair  from  first  to  last. 

Design  and  Construction. — It  will  be  seen  that 
the  new  cable  was  to  be  an  expensive  one  as  com- 
pared with  that  of .1857-58.  It  was  the  outcome 
of  six  years'  further  experience,  during  which 
several  important  lines,  referred  to  in  the  last 
chapter,  had  been  laid.     It  also  followed  upon  the 


180     THE    STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

exhaustive  Government  inquiry  to  which  allusion 
has  been  made. 

The  actual  type  adopted  (Fig.  34),  on  the  rec- 
ommendation of  Sir  Charles  Bright  and  other  en- 
gineers who  were  additionally  consulted,  was 
much  the  same  in  respect  to  the 
conductor  and  insulator — 300 
pounds  copper  to  400  pounds 
gutta-percha  per  nautical  mile 
— as  that  which  the  former 
had  suggested  for  the  previous 
Atlantic  line.  This  combina- 
tion   for   the    length    involved 


Fig.  34.— The  Main  Cable,  1865-66. 


was  based  on  Professor  Thomson's  law  for  the 
working  speed  of  a  cable,  as  depending  inversely 
on  the  resistance  of  the  conductor  as  well  as  on 
the  electrostatic  capacity  of  the  core.  The  armor 
consisted  of  a  combination  of  iron  and  hemp,  each 
wire  being  enveloped  in  manila  yarns.  The  ob- 
ject of  incasing  the  separate  wires  in  hemp  was 
( 1 )  to  protect  them  from  rust  due  to  exposure  to 
air  and  water,  and  (2)  to  reduce  the  specific 
gravity  of  the  cable,  with  a  view  to  rendering  it 
more  capable  of  supporting  its  own  weight  in 


i8i 


water.  This  form  of  cable,  bearing  a  stress  of 
about  eight  tons,*  and  suspending  eleven  miles  of 
itself,  was  considered  by  most  of  the  authorities 
at  that  period  to  perfectly  fulfil  the  conditions 
required  for  deep-sea  lines. f  The  claims  of  light 
hempen  cables,  without  any  iron,  had  been  urged 
for  meeting  the  difficulty  of  lay  and  recovery  in 
deep  water ;  and  this  type  formed  a  sort  of  com- 
promise, its  total  diameter  being  i.i  inch,  weigh- 
ing i  ton  16  hundredweight  in  air,  and  only  14 
hundredweight  in  water.  The  shore  end  was  to 
have  a  further  outer  sheathing  of  twelve  strands, 
each  strand  containing  three  stout  galvanized- 
iron  wires  of  No.  2  B.W.G.,  bringing  the  weight 
up  to  20  tons  per  mile.  This  was  to  be  joined  on 
to  the  main  deep-sea  type  by  a  gradually  tapering 
length  of  twenty-five  fathoms. 

Arrangements  for  Laying. — It  was  determined 
that  this  time  the  cable  must  be  laid  in  one  length, 
with  the  exception  of  the  shore  ends,  by  a  single 
vessel.  There  was  but  one  ship  that  could  carry 
such  a  cargo.  .  This  ship  was  the  Great  Eastern, 
the  conception  of  that  distinguished  engineer, 
Isambard  Kingdom  Brunei.  She  was  in  course 
of  construction  by  the  late  Mr.  Scott  Russell  at 
the  time  of  the  first  cable,  and  it  was  a  subject  for 
regret  that  she  was  not  then  available.  An  enor- 
mous craft  of  22,500  tons,  she  did  not  prove  suita- 
ble at  that  time  as  a  cargo-boat ;  and  the  laying  of 

*  The  increased  breaking  strain  here  afforded  over  that 
of  the  first  Atlantic  line  was  partly  due  to  the  great  improve- 
ment made  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  wire  during  the  in- 
terval. 

t  Experience  has  since  taught  us,  however,  that  such  a 
type  lacks  durability,  owing  to  the  rapid  decay  of  the  hemp 
between  the  iron  wires  and  the  sea. 


1 82     THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

the  second  Atlantic  cable  was  the  first  piece  of 
useful  work  she  did,  after  lying  more  or  less  idle 
for  nearly  ten  years.*  It  is  sad  to  think  of  the 
way  this  poor  old  ship  was  metaphorically  passed 
from  hand  to  hand.  Even  at  this  period  three 
separate  companies  had  already  been  formed  one 
after  another  to  work  her.  As  promoter  and 
chairman  of  one  of  these,  Mr.  (afterward  Sir 
Daniel)  Gooch  took  an  active  part  in  arranging 
for  her  charter  on  this  undertaking,  and  it  was  in 
this  way  that  he  became  a  prominent  party  in  the 
enterprise. 

All  the  cable  machinery  was  fitted  to  the  Great 
Eastern,  on  behalf  of  the  Telegraph  Construction 
Company,  by  Mr.  Henry  Clifford  to  the  designs  of 
Mr.  Canning  and  himself.  It  was  constructed 
and  set  up  by  the  famous  firm  of  engineers, 
Messrs.  John  Penn  &  Son,  of  Greenwich.  In  the 
main  principles  the  apparatus  employed  was  sim- 
ilar to  that  previously  adopted  in  1858  on  the 
Agamemnon  and  Niagara.  There  were,  how- 
ever, several  modifications  introduced,  as  the  re- 
sult of  the  extra  experience  gained  during  the 
seven  years'  interval.  The  main  point  of  differ- 
ence was  the  further  application  of  jockeys  to  the 
paying-out  gear  in  a  more  complete  form. 

As  it  was  not  practicable  to  moor  so  enormous 
a  vessel  off  the  works  at  East  Greenwich,  the 
cable  had  to  be  cut  into  lengths  and  coiled  on  two 
pontoons,  and  thence  transferred  to  the  big  ship. 

Landing    the   Irish   End. — At   length   all   the 

*  The  Great  Eastern,  in  point  of  size,  was  only  a  little 
before  her  time.  In  the  present  day,  with  improved  engines, 
she  could  be  usefully  and  profitably  employed,  had  she  not 
been  broken  up. 


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1 84    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

cable  having  been  manufactured  and  shipped  from 
the  Greenwich  works,  the  Great  Eastern,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  (later  Sir  James)  An- 
derson,* left  the  Thames  on  July  23,  1865,  with 
a  total  dead  weight  of  21,000  tons,  and  proceeded 
to  Foilhommerun  Bay,  Valentia.  Here  she 
joined  up  her  cable  to  the  shore  end,  which  had 
been  laid  a  day  earlier  by  S.S.  Caroline,  a  small 
vessel  chartered  and  fitted  up  for  the  purpose. 
The  great  ship  then  started  paying  out  as  she 
steamed  away  on  her  journey  to  America,  escorted 
by  two  British  men-of-war,  the  Terrible  and  the 
Sphinx. 

The  Sailing  Staff. — On  behalf  of  the  con- 
tractors, Mr.  (afterward  Sir  Samuel)  Canning 
was  the  engineer  in  charge  of  the  expedition,  with 
Mr.  Henry  Clifford  as  his  chief  assistant.  As  we 
have  seen,  both  these  gentlemen  had  been  engaged 
with  Sir  Charles  Bright  on  the  first  line,  besides 
having  much  experience  in  mechanical  engineer- 
ing as  well  as  in  cable  work.  On  the  contractors' 
engineering  staff  there  were  also  Mr.  John  Tem- 
ple and  Mr.  Robert  London.  Mr.  C.  V.  de  Sauty 
served  as  chief  electrician,  assisted  by  Mr.  H.  A.  C. 
Saunders  and  several  others.  By  arrangement 
with  the  Admiralty,  Staff-Commander  H.  A. 
Moriarty,  R.N.,  acted  as  the  navigator  of  the 
expedition.  Captain  Moriarty  was  possessed  of 
great  skill  in  this  -direction,  a  fact  which  had  been 
made  clear  in  the  previous  undertaking. 

The  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company  was  repre- 
sented on  board  by  Professor  Thomson  and  Mr. 
C.  F.  Varley  as  electricians,  the  former  acting 

*  Afterward  the  able  manager  of  the  Eastern  Telegraph 
Company. 


w 


1 86    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

mainly  as  scientific  expert  in  a  consultative  sense. 
Mr.  Willoughby  Smith,  the  electrician  to  the 
Gutta-Percha  Works,  was  also  on  board  at  the 
request  of  the  contractors,  though  holding  no 
exact  official  position.  Both  Mr.  Field  and  Mr. 
Gooch  accompanied  the  expedition,  the  former  as 
the  initial  promoter  of  the  enterprise,  and  the  lat- 
ter on  behalf  of  the  Great  Eastern  Company. 
Representing  the  press  there  were  also  on  board 
Dr.  (afterward  Sir  W.  H.)  Russell,  the  well- 
known  correspondent  of  The  Times,  as  the  his- 
torian of  the  enterprise,  and  Mr.  Robert  Dudley, 
an  artist  of  repute,  who  produced  several  excel- 
lent sketches  of  the  work  in  its  different  stages 
for  the  Illustrated  London  News. 

A  Bad  Start. — Unfortunately  trouble  soon 
arose.  The  first  fault  declared  itself  the  day  after 
starting,  when  eighty-four  miles  had  been  paid 
out.  It  was  decided  to  pick  up  back  to  the  fault, 
which  was  discovered  after  ten  and  a  half  miles 
had  been  brought  on  board.  A  piece  of  iron  wire 
was  found  to  have  pierced  the  cable  diametrically, 
so  as  to  make  contact  between  the  sea  and  the 
conductor.  The  faulty  portion  was  cut  out,  and 
the  paying  out  resumed  as  soon  as  the  cable  was 
spliced  up  again.  On  July  29th,  when  716  miles 
had  been  laid,  another  and  more  serious  fault  ap- 
peared. The  arduous  operation  of  picking  up 
again  commenced.  After  nine  hours'  work  the 
fault  was  safe  inboard,  and  the  necessary  repair 
effected.  On  stripping  the  cable  another  piece 
of  iron  wire  was  discovered  sticking  right  through 
the  core.  Anxiety  and  misgivings  were  now  felt 
by  all  on  board,  for  it  seemed  that  such  reverses 
could   only    be   attributed    to   malevolence.     On 


THE    1865    CABLE    AND   EXPEDITION       187 

August  26.  yet  a  further  fault  was  reported ;  they 
were  now  two-thirds  of  the  way  across,  1,186 
miles  of  cable  being  already  laid.  Again  they 
had  to  pick  up,  and  this  time  in  a  depth  of  2,000 
fathoms.  One  mile  only  had  been  recovered, 
when  an  accident  of  some  kind  happened  to  the 
machinery.  The  great  ship,  having  stopped,  was 
at  the  mercy  of  the  wind  and  swell,  and  heavy 
strains  were  brought  on  the  cable,  which  conse- 
quently suffered  badly  in  two  places.  Before  the 
two  injured  portions  could  be  secured  on  board 
the  cable  parted  and  sank.  Mr.  Canning  at  once 
decided  to  endeavor  to  recover  the  cable,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  it  lay  in  2,000  fathoms. 
After  maneuvering  in  this  way  for  about  fifteen 
hours,  700  fathoms  of  rope  had  been  hove  in, 
when  one  of  the  connecting  links  gave  way,  and 
all  beyond  it  sank  to  the  bottom.  The  work  was 
recommenced  with  hempen  ropes,  two  miles  far- 
ther west,  in  a  depth  of  2,300  fathoms,  and  on 
August  8th  the  cable  was  again  hooked ;  but  when 
raised  to  within  1,500  fathoms  of  the  surface,  yet 
another  connecting  link  parted,  the  strain  being 
about  nine  tons.  Two  more  attempts  were  made, 
but  both  were  doomed  to  end  in  failure.  The 
store  of  rope  being  now  quite  exhausted,  the  work 
had  to  be  abandoned,  and  on  August  11,  1865,  the 
fleet  of  ships  parted  company  to  return  home — 
shattered  in  hopes  as  well  as  in  ropes  ! 


1 88    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 


CHAPTER  XV 
SECOND  AND  SUCCESSFUL  ATTEMPT 

Further    Funds  —  Fresh    Provisions  —  New    Picking-up 
Machine — Staff — Cable-Laying  again — Success. 

The  results  of  the  last  expedition,  disastrous  as 
they  were  from  a  financial  point  of  view,  in  no 
wise  abated  the  courage  of  the  promoters  of  the 
enterprise.  During  the  heaviest  weather  the 
Great  Eastern  had  shown  exceptional  "stiffness," 
while  her  great  size  and  her  maneuvering  power 
(afforded  by  the  screw  and  paddles  combined) 
seemed  to  show  her  to  be  the  very  type  of  vessel 
for  this  kind  of  work.  The  picking-up  gear,  it 
was  true,  had  proved  insufficient,  but  with  the 
paying-out  machinery  no  serious  fault  was  to  be 
found.  The  feasibility  of  grappling  in  mid- 
Atlantic  had  been  demonstrated,  and  they  had 
gone  far  toward  proving  the  possibility  of  recov- 
ering the  cable  from  similar  depths. 

Further  Funds. — To  overcome  financial  diffi- 
culties, the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company  was 
amalgamated  with  a  new  concern,  the  Anglo- 
American  Telegraph  Company,  which  was 
formed,  mainly  by  those  interested  in  the  older 
business,  with  the  object  of  raising  fresh  capital 
for  the  new  and  double  ventures  of  1866.  The 
ultimate  capital  of  this  company  amounted  (as 
before)  to  £600,000.  In  raising  this,  Mr.  Field 
first  secured  the  support  of  the  late  Sir  Daniel 


SECOND   AND   SUCCESSFUL   ATTEMPT     189 

Gooch,  M.P.,  then  chairman,  and  previously  loco- 
motive superintendent  of  the  Great  Western  Rail- 
way Company,  who,  after  what  he  had  seen  on  the 
previous  expedition,  promised,  if  necessary,  to 
subscribe  as  much  as  £20,000.  On  the  same  con- 
ditions, Mr.  Brassey  expressed  his  willingness  to 
bear  one-tenth  of  the  total  cost  of  the  undertaking. 
Ultimately,  the  Telegraph  Construction  Com- 
pany led  off  with  £  100,000,  this  amount  being  fol- 
lowed by  the  signatures  of  ten  directors  interested 
in  the  contract  (as  guarantors)  at  £10,000  apiece. 
Then  there  were  four  subscriptions  of  £5,000,  and 
some  of  £2,500  to  £1,000,  principally  from  firms 
participating  in  the  subcontracts.  These  sums 
were  all  subscribed  before  even  the  prospectus  was 
issued  or  the  books  opened  to  the  public.  The 
remaining  capital  then  quickly  followed. 

The  Telegraph  Construction  Company,  in  un- 
dertaking the  entire  work,  were  to  receive  £500,- 
000  for  the  new  cable  in  any  case ;  and,  if  it  suc- 
ceeded, an  extra  £100,000.  If  both  cables  came 
into  successful  operation,  the  total  amount  pay- 
able to  them  was  to  be  £737,140.  In  fact,  it  was, 
if  possible,  even  more  of  a  contractor's  enterprise 
than  that  of  1865. 

It  was  now  proposed  not  only  to  lay  a  new  cable 
between  Ireland  and  Newfoundland,  but  also  to 
repair  and  complete  the  one  lying  at  the  bottom 
of  the  sea.  A  length  of  1,600  miles  of  cable  was 
ordered  from  the  contractors.  Thus,  with  the 
unexpended  cable  from  the  last  expedition,  the 
total  length  available  when  the  expedition  started 
would  be  2,730  miles,  of  which  1,960  miles  were 
allotted  to  the  new  cable,  and  697  to  complete  the 
old  one,  leaving  113  miles  as  a  reserve. 


19°     THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

Fresh  Provisions. — The  new  main  cable  was 
similar  to  that  of  the  year  before,  but  the  shore- 
end  cable  determined  on  in  this  case  was  of  a  dif- 
ferent description.  It  had  only  one  sheathing, 
consisting  of  twelve  contiguous  iron  wires  of 
great  individual  surface  and  weight ;  and  outside 
all  a  covering  of  tarred  hemp  and  compound. 
That  part  of  the  line  which  was  intended  for  shal- 
low depths  was  composed  of  three  different  types. 
Starting  from  the  coast  of  Ireland,  eight  miles  of 
the  heaviest  was  to  be  laid,  then  eight  miles  of 
an  intermediate  type,  and  lastly  fourteen  miles  of 
a  lighter  type,  making  thirty  miles  of  shoal-water 
cable  on  the  Irish  side.  Five  miles  of  shallow- 
water  cable,  of  the  different  types  named,  were 
considered  sufficient  on  the  Newfoundland  coast. 

The  previous  paying-out  machinery  on  board 
the  Great  Eastern  was  altered  to  some  extent  by 
Messrs.  Penn  to  the  instructions  of  Messrs.  Can- 
ning &  Clifford.  Though  different  in  detail,  the 
main  improvement  over  the  1865  gear  consisted 
in  the  fact  that  a  70-horse-power  steam-engine 
was  fitted  to  drive  the  two  large  drums  in  such  a 
way  that  the  paying-out  machinery,  as  in  1858, 
could  be  used  to  pick  up  cable  during  the  laying, 
if  necessary,  thereby  avoiding  the  risk  incurred  by 
changing  the  cable  from  the  stern  to  the  bows. 
This  addition  of  Penn  trunk-engines,  as  well  as 
the  general  strengthening  of  the  entire  machinery, 
was  made  in  accordance  with  the  designs  of  Mr. 
Henry  Clifford. 

The  picking-up  machinery  forward  (Fig.  37) 
after  the  previous  expedition  was  considerably 
strengthened  and  improved  with  spur-wheels  and 
pinion-gearing.     It  had  two  drums  worked  by  a 


I92     THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

similar  pair  of  70-horse-power  engines.  This 
formed  an  exceedingly  powerful  machine,  and  re- 
flected great  credit  on  those  who  devised  and  con- 
structed it. 

Similar  gear  was  fitted  up  on  board  the  two  ves- 
sels— S.S.  Medway  and  S.S.  Albany — chartered 
to  assist  the  Great  Eastern. 

For  the  purpose  of  grappling  the  1865  cable, 
twenty  miles  of  rope  were  manufactured,  which 
was  constituted  by  forty-nine  iron  wires,  sepa- 
rately covered  with  manila  hemp.  Six  wires  so 
served  were  laid  up  strandwise  round  a  seventh, 
which  formed  the  heart,  or  core,  of  the  rope. 
This  rope  would  stand  a  longitudinal  stress  of  30 
tons  before  breaking. 

In  addition,  five  miles  of  buoy-rope  were  pro- 
vided, besides  buoys  of  different  shapes  and  sizes, 
the  largest  of  which  (Fig.  38)  would  support  a 
weight  of  twenty  tons.  As  on  the  previous  expe- 
dition, several  kinds  of  grapnels  were  put  on 
board,  some  of  the  ordinary  sort,  and  some  with 
springs  to  prevent  the  cable  surging,  and  thus 
escaping  while  the  grapnel  was  still  dragging  on 
the  bottom ;  others,  again,  were  fashioned  like 
pincers,  to  hold  (or  jam)  the  cable  when  raised 
to  a  required  height,  or  else  to  cut  it  only,  and  so 
take  off  a  large  proportion  of  the  strain  previous 
to  picking  up.  Most  of  this  apparatus  was  fur- 
nished by  Messrs.  Brown,  Lenox  &  Co.,  the 
famous  chain,  cable,  anchor,  and  buoy  engineers, 
several  of  the  grapnels  being  to  their  design,  as 
well  as  the  "connections." 

The  propelling  machinery  of  the  Great  Eastern 
had  similarly  received  alteration  and  improvement 
in  the  intervals  of  the  two  expeditions.      More- 


SECOND   AND    SUCCESSFUL  ATTEMPT      193 

over,  the  screw  propeller  was  surrounded  with  an 
iron  cage,  to  keep  the  cable  and  ropes  from  fouling 


1 


Fig.   38. — Buoys,  Grapnels,  Mushrooms — and  Men. 

it,  as  had  been  provided  for  the  Agamemnon  and 
Niagara  in  1857. 

The  testing  arrangements  had  been  perfected 
by  Mr.  Willoughby  Smith  in  such  a  way  that  in- 
sulation readings  could  be  continuously  observed, 
13 


194    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

even  while  measuring  the  copper  resistance,  or 
while  exchanging  signals  with  Valentia.  Thus 
there  was  no  longer  any  danger  of  a  fault  being 
paid  overboard  without  instant  detection.  On 
this  occasion  also  condensers  were  applied  to  the 
receiving-end  of  the  cable,  having  the  effect  of 
very  materially  increasing — indeed,  sometimes  al- 
most doubling — the  working  speed. 

On  June  30,  1866,  the  Great  Eastern,  steaming 
from  the  Thames — followed  by  the  Medway  and 
Albany — arrived  at  Valentia,  where  H.M.S.  Ter- 
rible and  Racoon  were  found,  under  orders  to  ac- 
company the  expedition.  The  Medway  had  on 
board  forty-five  miles  of  deep-sea  cable  in  addi- 
tion to  the  American  shore  end. 

The  principal  members  of  the  staff  acting  on 
behalf  of  the  contractors  in  this  expedition  were 
the  same  as  in  that  of  the  previous  year.  Mr. 
Canning  was  again  in  charge,  with  Mr.  Clifford 
and  Mr.  Temple  as  his  chief  assistants.  In  the 
electrical  department,  however,  the  Telegraph 
Construction  Company  had  since  secured  the  serv- 
ices of  Mr.  Willoughby  Smith  as  their  chief 
electrician,  while  he  still  acted  in  that  capacity  at 
the  Wharf  Road  Gutta-Percha  Works.  Mr. 
Smith,  therefore,  accompanied  the  expedition  as 
chief  electrician  to  the  contractors.  Captain 
James  Anderson  and  Staff-Commander  H.  A. 
Moriarty,  R.N.,  were  once  more  to  be  seen  on 
board  the  great  ship,  the  former  as  her  captain, 
and  the  latter  as  navigating  officer.  Professor 
Thomson  was  aboard  as  consulting  electrical  ad- 
viser to  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company,  while 
Mr.  C.  F.  Varley  was  ashore  at  Valentia  as  their 
electrician.      Sir  Charles  Bright  (then  M.P.  for 


SECOND   AND    SUCCESSFUL   ATTEMPT      195 

Greenwich)  was  at  this  period  serving  on  various 
committees  of  the  House  of  Commons  ;*  but  his 
partner,  Mr.  Latimer  Clark,  took  up  quarters  at 
Valentia  to  personally  represent  the  firm  as  con- 
sulting engineers  to  the  Anglo-American  Tele- 
graph Company.  Mr.  J.  C.  Laws  and  Mr.  Rich- 
ard Collettf  being  respectively  aboard  and  ashore 
at  the  Newfoundland  end  in  the  same  interests. 
Mr.  Glass,  the  managing  director  of  the  Tele- 
graph Construction  Company,  was  ashore  at  Va- 
lentia for  the  purpose  of  giving  any  instructions 
to  his  (the  contractor's)  staff  on  board,  while  Mr. 
Gooch  and  Mr.  Field  were  aboard  the  Great  East- 
ern as  onlookers  and  watchers  of  their  individual 
interests. 

Cable-Laying  again. — On  July  7th  the  William 
Cory — commonly  known  as  the  Dirty  Billy — 
landed  the  shore  end  in  Foilhommerum  Bay,  and 
afterward  laid  twenty-seven  miles  of  the  inter- 
mediate cable.  On  the  13th,  the  Great  Eastern 
took  the  end  on  board,  and  having  spliced  on  to 
her  cable  on  board,  started  paying  out.  The  track 
followed  was  parallel  to  that  taken  the  year  be- 
fore, but  about  twenty-seven  miles  farther  north. 
There  were  two  instances  of  fouls  in  the  tank,  due 
to  broken  wires  catching  neighboring  turns  and 
flakes,  and  thus  drawing  up  a  whole  bundle  of 
cable  in  an  apparently  inextricable  mass  of  kinks 
and  twists   quite  close  to  the  brake-drum.      In 

*  Life-Story  of  Sir  C.  T.  Bright. 

t  At  a  later  period — after  both  the  1865  and  1866  cables 
were  in  working  order — Mr.  Collett  sent  a  message  from 
Newfoundland  to  Valentia  with  a  battery  composed  of  a 
copper  percussion-cap  and  a  small  strip  of  zinc,  which  were 
excited  by  a  drop  of  acidulated  water — the  bulk  of  a  tear 
only. 


196     THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

each  case  the  ship  was  promptly  got  to  a  standstill 
and  all  hands  set  to  unraveling  the  tangle.  With 
a  certain  amount  of  luck,  coupled  with  much 
care,  neither  accident  ended  fatally ;  and,  after 


Fig.  39. — "  Foul  in  Tank  "  while  Paying  out. 

straightening  out  the  wire  as  far  as  possible,  pay- 
ing out  was  resumed. 

Successful  Completion. — Fourteen  days  after 
starting  the  Great  Eastern  arrived  off  Heart's 
Content,*  Trinity  Bay,  where  the  Medway  joined 
on  and  landed  the  shore  end  partly  by  boats,  thus 
bringing  to  a  successful  conclusion  this  part  of  the 
expedition.  The  total  length  of  cable  laid  was 
1,852  nautical  miles ;  average  depth,  1,400 
fathoms.      Rejoicings  then  took  place  during  the 

*  This  is  situated  on  the  opposite  side  of  Trinity  Bay 
to  Bull  Arm,  where  the  1858  cable  had  been  landed,  and 
not  so  far  up.  It  was  supposed  to  be  even  more  protected 
than  Bull  Arm,  from  which  it  is  some  eighteen  miles  distant. 


RECOVERY  AND  COMPLETION  OF  CABLE   197 

coaling  of  the  Great  Eastern — to  provide  for 
which  as  many  as  six  coal-laden  steamers  had  left 
Cardiff  some  weeks  before.  The  rejoicings  were 
somewhat  damped  by  the  fact  that  the  cable  be- 
tween Newfoundland  and  Cape  Breton  (Nova 
Scotia)  still  remained  interrupted,  and  that  con- 
sequently the  entire  telegraphic  system  was  not 
even  now  completed.  However,  in  the  course  of 
a  few  days  this  line  was  repaired,  and  New  York 
and  the  east  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  were 
once  more  put  into  telegraphic  communication 
with  Europe. 

The    telegraphic    fleet    put    to    sea   again    on 
August  9th. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

RECOVERY  AND    COMPLETION   OF   THE    1865 
CABLE 

Prospects  and  Plans — Setting  to  Work — Repeated  Fail- 
ures— Ultimate  Triumph — Electricians  Ashore — 
"Spot-watching" — "Putting-through" — Pioneering — 
Working  the  Lines. 

Prospects  and  Plans. — It  now  remained  to  find 
the  end  of  the  cable  lost  on  August  2,  1865,  situ- 
ated about  604  miles  from  Newfoundland,  to  pick 
it  up,  splice  on  to  the  cable  remaining  on  board, 
and  finish  the  work  so  unfortunately  interrupted 
the  year  before.  The  difficulties  to  be  overcome 
can  be  readily  imagined,  the  cable  lying  2,000 
fathoms  without  mark  of  any  kind  to  indicate  its 
position.     The  buoys  put  down  after  the  accident 


190     THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

had  long  since  disappeared,  either  their  moorings 
having  dragged  during  various  gales  of  wind,  or 
the  wire  ropes  which  held  them  having  chafed 
through,  owing  to  incessant  rise  and  fall  at  the 
bottom.  The  position  of  the  lost  end  had  to  be 
determined  by  astronomical  observations.  These 
necessitate  clear  weather,  and  can  then  only  give 
approximate  results  on  account  of  the  variable 
ocean  currents,  which  sometimes  flow  at  the  rate 
of  three  knots.  Moreover,  for  grappling  and 
raising  the  cable  to  the  bows,  the  sea  must  be 
tolerably  smooth ;  and  in  that  part  where  the  work 
lay  a  succession  of  fine  days  is  rare,  even  in  the 
month  of  August.  However,  they  still  had  on 
board  Captain  Moriarty,  one  of  the  ablest  navi- 
gators in  the  world.  Added  to  this,  the  greater 
portion  of  the  cable  in  deep  water  had  been  paid 
out  with  about  15  per  cent  slack. 

The  chiefs  of  the  expedition,  fully  confident  of 
success,  hastened  their  preparations,  and  on 
August  9,  1866,  the  Great  Eastern  again  put  to 
sea,  accompanied  by  S.S.  Medway.  On  the  12th 
the  vessels  arrived  on  the  scene  of  action,  and 
joined  company  with  H.M.S.  Terrible  and  S.S. 
Albany,  these  vessels  having  left  Heart's  Content 
Bay  a  week  in  advance  to  buoy  the  line  of  the 
1865  cable  and  commence  grappling. 

The  plan  decided  on  was  to  drag  for  the  cable 
near  the  end  with  all  three  ships  at  once.  The 
cable  when  raised  to  a  certain  height,  was  to  be 
cut  by  the  Medway  stationed  to  the  westward  of 
the  Great  Eastern,  so  as  to  enable  the  latter  vessel 
to  lift  the  Valentia  end  on  board.  This  was,  of 
course,  before  the  days  of  cutting  and  holding 
grapnels  as  we  now  have  them,  which  render  it 


200    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

possible  for  a  single  ship  to  effect  repairs — even 
where  it  is  out  of  the  question  to  recover  the  cable 
in  one  bight. 

Setting  to  Work:  Repeated  Failures. — When 
the  Great  Eastern  arrived  on  the  grappling 
ground,  the  Albany  (with  Mr.  Temple  in  engi- 
neering charge)  had  already  hooked  and  buoyed 
the  cable,  but  the  buoy-chain  having  been  carried 
away,  they  not  only  lost  the  cable,  but  2,000 
fathoms  of  wire  rope  besides.  On  August  13th 
the  Great  Eastern  made  her  first  drag,  about 
fifteen  miles  from  the  end,  and,  after  several  vain 
attempts,  the  cable  was  finally  hooked  and  lifted 
about  1,300  fathoms.  During  the  operation  of 
buoying  the  grappling  rope,  a  mistake  occurred 
which  resulted  in  the  rope  slipping  overboard  and 
going  to  the  bottom. 

The  Great  Eastern  now  proceeded  six  miles  to 
the  eastward,  and  commenced  a  new  drag,  for 
raking  the  ocean  bed  with  2,400  fathoms  of  wire 
rope.  About  eleven  o'clock  at  night  the  grapnel 
came  to  the  surface  with  the  cable  caught  on  two 
of  the  prongs.  Boats  were  quickly  in  position 
alongside  the  grapnel.  Shortly  afterward  they 
were  endeavoring  to  secure  the  cable  to  the  strong 
wire  rope,  by  means  of  a  nipper,  when  the  grapnel 
canted,  allowing  the  line  to  slip  away  from  the 
prongs — like  a  great  eel — and  disappear  into  the 
sea.  On  the  19th  the  cable  was  once  more  hooked, 
and  raised  about  a  mile  from  the  bottom,  but  the 
sea  was  too  rough  for  buoying  it.  During  the 
following  week  all  three  vessels  dragged  for  the 
cable  at  different  points,  according  to  the  plan 
previously  arranged,  but  the  weather  was  un- 
favorable, and  the  cable  was  not  hooked — or,  if 


RECOVERY  AND  COMPLETION  OF  CABLE  201 

hooked,  had  managed  to  slip  away  from  the 
grapnels.  The  ship's  company  about  this  time 
became  discouraged — in  fact,  more  and  more  con- 
vinced of  the  futility  of  their  efforts. 

On  the  27th  the  Albany  signaled  that  they  had 
got  the  cable  on  board  with  a  strain  of  only  three 
tons,  and  had  buoyed  the  end,  but  it  was  soon  dis- 
covered that  her  buoy  was  thirteen  miles  from  the 
track  of  the  cable,  and  that  she  had  recovered  a 
length  of  three  miles  which  had  been  purposely 
paid  overboard  a  few  days  before.  Shifting 
ground  to  the  eastward  about  fifteen  miles,  the 
vessels  were  now  working  in  a  depth  of  2,500 
fathoms.  As  the  store  of  grappling  rope  was 
diminishing  day  by  day,  and  the  fine  season  rap- 
idly coming  to  an  end,  it  was  decided  to  proceed 
at  once  eighty  miles  farther  east,  where  the 
depth  was  not  expected  to  exceed  1,900  fathoms, 
and  there  try  a  last  chance 

Ultimate  Triumph. — After  the  above  repeated 
failures,  the  cable  was  hooked  on  August  31st  by 
the  Great  Eastern  (when  the  grapnel  had  been 
lowered  for  the  thirtieth  time),  and  picking  up 
commenced  in  very  calm  weather.  The  monster 
vessel  did  her  work  admirably.  To  quote  the 
words  of  an  eye-witness :  "So  delicately  did  she 
answer  her  helm,  and  coil  in  the  film  of  thread- 
like cable,  that  she  put  one  in  mind  of  an  elephant 
taking  up  a  straw  in  its  proboscis."  When  the 
bight  of  cable  was  about  900  fathoms  from  the 
surface,  the  grappling-rope  was  buoyed.  The 
big  ship  then  proceeded  to  grapple  three  miles 
west  of  the  buoy  (Fig.  41),  and  the  Medway 
(with  Mr.  London  on  board)  another  two  miles 
or  so  west  of  her  again.     The  cable  was  soon  once 


202    THE   STORY   OF  THE  ATLANTIC    CABLE 

more  hooked  by  both  ships,  and  when  the  Med- 
way  had  raised  her  bight  to  within  300  fathoms 
of  the  surface  she  was  ordered  to  break  it.  The 
Great  Eastern  having  stopped  picking  up  when 
the  bight  was  800  fathoms  from  the  surface,  pro- 
ceeded to  resume  the  operation  as  soon  as  the 
intentional  rupture  of  the  cable  had  eased  the 
strain,  which,  with  a  loose  end  of  about  two 
nautical  miles,  at  once  fell  from  10  or  11  tons  to 
5  tons.  Slowly,  but  surely,  and  amid  breathless 
silence,  the  long-lost  cable  made  its  appearance  at 
last  (see  opposite),  for  the  third  time  above 
water,  a  little  before  one  o'clock  (early  morn)  of 
September  2d.* 

Two  hours  afterward  the  precious  end  was  on 
board,  and  signals  were  immediately  exchanged 
with  Valentia.  This  was  at  once  led  into  the 
testing-room,  where  Mr.  Willoughby  Smith,  in 
the  presence  of  all  the  leaders  on  board,  applied 
the  tests  which  were  to  determine  the  important 
question  regarding  the  condition  of  the  cable,  and 
whether  it  was  entirely  continuous  to  each  end. 
In  a  few  minutes  all  suspense  was  relieved,  the 
tests  showed  the  cable  to  be  healthy  and  complete, 
and  immediately  afterward  (in  response  to  the 
ship's  call)  the  answering  signals  were  received 
from  the  Valentia  end,  which  were  received  with 
loud  cheers  that  echoed  and  reechoed  throughout 
the  great  ship. 

Electricians  Ashore:  "Spot-watching." — Let  us 
now  look  at  those  patiently  watching  day  after 
day,  night  after  night,  in  the  wooden  telegraph 
cabin  on  shore,  the  experience  of  whom  may  be 
taken  as  a  fair  sample  of  that  of  the  electrician 

*  Submarine  Telegraphs. 


RECOVERY  AND  COMPLETION  OF  CABLE  203 

ashore  during  repairing  operations  in  the  present 
day. 

Such  a  length  of  time  had  elapsed  since  the 
expedition  left  Newfoundland  that  the  staff  at 
Foilhommerum,  under  the  superintendence  of 
Mr.  James  Graves,  felt  they  were  almost  hoping 
against  hope.  Suddenly,  on  a  Sunday  morning 
at  a  quarter  to  six,  while  the  tiny  ray  of  light  from 
the  reflecting  instrument  was  being  watched,  the 
operator  observed  it  moving  to  and  fro  upon  the 


Fig.  41. — Diagram  Illustrative  of  the  Final  Tactics  Adopted  for 
Picking  tip  the  1865  Cable. 

A — Point  where  cable  was  buoyed  by  the  Great  Eastern. 

B — Point  where  cable  was  broken  by  the  Med  way. 

C — Bight  of  cable  ultimately  brought  to  surface  by  Great  Eastern. 


scale.  A  few  minutes  later  the  unsteady  flickering 
was  changed  to  coherency.  The  long-speechless 
cable  began  to  talk,  and  the  welcome  assurance 
arrived,  "Ship  to  shore ;  I  have  much  pleasure  in 
speaking  to  you  through  the  1865  cable.  Just 
going  to  make  splice."  Glad  tidings  were  also 
sent  from  the  ship  via  Valentia  to  London,  and, 
by  means  of  the  1866  cable,  to  Newfoundland 
and  New  York.  Thus  it  happened  that  those  be- 
ing tossed  about  in  a  stormy  sea  held  conversation 


204    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

with  Europe  and  America  at  one  and  the  same 
time.* 

"Putting  Through" — The  recovered  end  was 
spliced  on  without  delay  to  the  cable  on  board, 
and  the  same  morning  at  seven  o'clock  the  Great 
Eastern  started  paying  out  about  680  nautical 
miles  of  cable  toward  Newfoundland.  On  Sep- 
tember 8th,  when  only  thirteen  miles  from  the 
Bay  of  Heart's  Content,  just  after  receiving  a 
summary  of  the  news  in  The  Times  of  that  morn- 
ing, the  tests  showed  a  fault  in  the  cable.  The 
mischief  was  soon  found  to  be  on  board  the  ship, 
and  caused  by  the  end  of  a  broken  wire,  which, 
bending  at  right  angles  under  the  weight  of  the 
men  employed  in  the  tanks,  had  been  forced  into 
the  core.  This  occurrence  explained  the  proba- 
ble cause  of  the  faults  (of  same  character)  which 
had  shown  themselves  during  paying  out  the  year 
before,  tending  to  remove  all  suspicion  of  mali- 
cious intent.  The  faulty  portion  having  been  cut 
out,  and  the  splice  made  without  delay,  paying 
out  again  proceeded,  finishing  the  same  day  at 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon.  The  Medway  im- 
mediately set  to  work  laying  the  shore  end,  and 
that  evening  a  second  line  of  communication 
across  the  Atlantic  was  completed.  The  total 
length  of  this  cable,  commenced  in  1865,  was 
1,896  miles  ;  average  depth,  1,900  fathoms. 

Pioneering. — The  main  feature  and  accomplish- 
ment in  connection  with  the  second  and  third 
Atlantic  cables  of  1865  and  1866  was,  without 
doubt,  the  recovery  of  the  former  in  deeper  water 

*This  is,  of  course,  nowadays  quite  an  ordinary  occur- 
rence, and  by  means  of  wireless  telegraphy  likely  to  become 
still  more  so.     Then,  however,  it  was  a  complete  novelty. 


a 


a 

(L> 

p 


206     THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

than  had  ever  been  before  effected,  and  in  the  open 
ocean;  just  as  in  the  first  1858  line  it  was  the 
demonstration  of  the  fact  that  a  cable  could  be 
successfully  laid  in  such  a  depth  and  worked 
through  electrically.  In  the  interval  between  the 
two  undertakings  cable  repairs  had  certainly  been 
carried  out  in  the  Mediterranean  in  1,400  fathoms. 
Moreover,  the  recovery  and  repair  of  a  cable  from 
the  depths  of  the  open  ocean  are  now  matters  of 
ordinary  every-day  occurrence,  forming  part  and 
parcel  of  cable  operations  generally.  These  facts 
should  not,  however,  in  any  way  detract  from  the 
greatness  of  the  achievement  at  that  time  in  so 
vast  and  boisterous  an  ocean. 

Working  the  Two  Lines. — Professor  Thom- 
son's reflecting-apparatus  for  testing  and  signal- 
ing had  been  considerably  improved  since  the  first 
cable.  In  illustration  of  the  degree  of  sensibility 
and  perfection  attained  at  this  period  in  the  appli- 
ances for  working  the  line,  the  following  experi- 
ment is  of  striking  interest:  Mr.  Latimer  Clark, 
who  went  to  Valentia  to  test  the  cable  for  the  "At- 
lantic" Company,  had  the  conductor  of  the  two 
lines  joined  together  at  the  Newfoundland  end, 
thus  forming  an  unbroken  length  of  3,700  miles 
in  circuit.  He  then  placed  some  pure  sulfuric 
acid  in  a  silver  thimble,*  with  a  fragment  of  zinc 
weighing  a  grain  or  two.  By  this  primitive 
agency  he  succeeded  in  conveying  signals  twice 
through  the  breadth  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  in  little 
more  than  a  second  of  time  after  making  contact. 
The  deflections  were  not  of  a  dubious  character, 

*  Mr.  Clark  borrowed  the  thimble — which  was  a  very 
small  one — from  Miss  Fitzgerald,  the  daughter  of  the  Knight 
of  Kerry,  living  at  Valentia. 


RECOVERY  AND  COMPLETION  OF  CABLE     207 

but  full  and  strong,  the  spot  of  light  traversing 
freely  over  a  space  of  twelve  inches  or  more,  from 
which  it  was  manifest  that  an  even  smaller  battery 
would  suffice  to  produce  somewhat  similar  effects. 
Again,  in  testing  these  cables  it  was  found  that  if 
either  was  disconnected  from  the  earth  and 
charged  with  electricity,  it  required  more  than  an 
hour  for  half  of  the  charge  to  escape  through  the 
insulating  material  to  the  earth.  This  speaks  well 
for  the  electrical  components  assigned  to  the  two 
lines,  and  for  the  arrangements  adopted  in  work- 
ing them.  It  also  shows  the  benefit  derived  from 
seven  years'  extra  experience  in  manufacture, 
backed  up  by  the  previously  mentioned  exhaustive 
Government  inquiry  thereon. 

Notwithstanding  the  dimensions  of  the  core, 
these  cables  were  worked  slowly  at  first,  and  at 
a  rate  of  about  eight  words  per  minute.  This, 
however,  soon  improved  as  the  staff  became  more 
accustomed  to  the  apparatus,  and  steadily  in- 
creased up  to  fifteen — and  even  seventeen — words 
per  minute  on  each  line,  with  the  application  of 
condensers. 

Unfortunately  both  these  cables  broke  down  a 
few  months  later,  and  one  of  them  again  during 
the  following  year.  The  faults  were  localized 
with  great  accuracy  from  Heart's  Content  by  Mr. 
F.  Lambert  on  behalf  of  Messrs.  Bright  &  Clark, 
engineers  to  the  "Anglo-American"  Company. 

Unlike  the  1858  line,  however,  these  last  cables 
had  not  been  killed  electrically,  and,  being  worthy 
of  repairs,  they  were  maintained  for  a  consider- 
able time. 


2o8     THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 


CHAPTER  XVII 
JUBILATIONS 

Banquets — Speeches — Honors 

On  the  return  of  the  1866  Expedition  a  banquet 
was  given  to  the  cable-layers  by  the  Liverpool 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  as  soon  as  the  Great  East- 
ern was  safely  moored  in  the  Mersey. 

The  following  from  The  Times  will  be  of  some 
interest  here : 

The  chair  was  occupied  by  the  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote,  Bart.,*  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  The 
following  were  among  the  invited  guests:  the  Rt.  Hon. 
Lord  Stanley,  M.P.,  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs; 
the  Rt.  Hon.  Lord  Carnarvon;  the  Rt.  Rev.  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Chester;  the  Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  M.P.; 
Sir  Charles  Bright,  M.P.,  original  projector  of  the  At- 
lantic cable,  and  Engineer  to  the  Anglo-American  Tele- 
graph Company;  Prof.  W.  Thomson,  electrical  ad- 
viser to  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company;  Mr.  Latimer 
Clark,  coengineer  with  Sir  Charles  Bright;  Mr.  R.  A. 
Glass,  managing  director  to  the  Telegraph  Construction 
Company  (contractors) ;  Mr.  Samuel  Canning,  engineer  to 
the  contractors;  Mr.  Henry  Clifford,  assistant  engineer  to 
the  contractors;  Mr.  Willoughby  Smith,  electrician  to  the 
contractors;  Captain  James  Anderson,  commander  of  the 
Great  Eastern;  Mr.  William  Barber,  chairman  of  the 
Great  Ship  Company;  Mr.  John  Chatterton,  manager  of 
the  Gutta-Percha  Works;    Mr.  E.  B.  Bright,  Magnetic 

*  Afterward  the  first  Earl  of  Iddesleigh,  G.C.B. 


JUBILATIONS  209 

Telegraph  Company;  Mr.  T.  B.  Horsfall,  M.P.;  and 
Mr.  John  Laird,  M.P. 

After  proposing  toasts  to  Her  Majesty  the  Queen,  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  to  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  the  chairman  (Sir  S.  Northcote)  again  rose  amid 
applause,  and  said  it  was  a  maxim  of  a  great  Roman  poet 
that  a  great  work  should  be  begun  by  plunging  into  the 
middle  of  the  subject.  He  would  therefore  do  so  by 
proposing  a  toast  to  the  projectors  of  the  Atlantic  Tele- 
graph— Sir  Charles  Bright  and  Mr.  Cyrus  Field,  Mr.  J.  W. 
Brett  having  since  unfortunately  died.  When  they  came 
in  after  years  to  relate  the  history  of  this  cable,  they 
would  find  many  who  had  contributed  to  it,  but  it  would 
be  as  impossible  to  say  who  were  the  originators  of  the 
great  invention  as  it  was  to  say  who  were  the  first  inventors 
of  steam.  He  begged  to  couple  with  the  toast  the  name  of 
Sir  Charles  Bright,  as,  perhaps,  the  foremost  representa- 
tive from  all  points  of  view  up  to  the  present  time  (ap- 
plause). The  greatest  honor  is  due  to  the  indomitable 
perseverance  and  energy  of  Sir  Charles  Bright  that  the 
original  cable  was  successfully  laid,  though,  through  no 
fault  of  his,  it  had  but  a  short  useful  existence  (great 
cheering) . 

Sir  Charles  Bright,  M.P.,  after  acknowledging  the 
compliment  paid  to  the  "original  projectors"  and  to 
himself  personally,  said  that  the  idea  of  laying  a  cable 
across  the  Atlantic  was  the  natural  outcome  of  the  success 
which  was  attained  in  carrying  short  lines  under  the 
English  and  Irish  Channels,  and  was  a  common  subject 
of  discussion  among  those  concerned  in  telegraph  exten- 
sion prior  to  the  formation  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph 
Company. 

About  ten  years  ago  the  science  had  sufficiently 
advanced  to  permit  of  the  notion  assuming  a  practical 
form.  Soundings  taken  in  the  Atlantic  between  Ireland 
and  Newfoundland  proved  that  the  bottom  was  soft,  and 
that  no  serious  currents  or  abrading  agencies  existed,  for 
the  minute  and  fragile  shells  brought  up  by  the  sounding- 
line  were  perfect  and  uninjured. 

There  only  remained  the  proof  that  electricity  could 
14 


210     THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

be  employed  through  so  vast  a  length  of  conductor. 
Upon  this  point  and  the  best  mode  of  working  such  a 
line,  he  had  been  experimenting  for  several  years.  He 
had  carried  on  a  series  of  investigations  which  resulted  in 
establishing  the  fact  that  messages  could  be  practically 
passed  through  an  unbroken  circuit  of  more  than  2,000 
miles  of  insulated  wire,  a  notion  derided  at  that  time  by 
many  distinguished  authorities.  Mr.  Wildman  White- 
house,  who  subsequently  became  electrician  to  the  com- 
pany, had  been  likewise  engaged.  On  comparing  notes 
later,  it  was  discovered  that  we  had  arrived  at  similar 
results,  though  holding  somewhat  different  views,  for  his 
(Sir  C.  Bright's)  calculations,  using  other  instruments, 
led  him  to  believe  that  a  conductor  nearly  four  times  the 
size  of  that  adopted  would  be  desirable  with  a  slightly 
thicker  insulator.  It  was  this  type  which  the  new  cables 
just  laid  had  been  furnished  with. 

In  1856,  Mr.  Cyrus  Field — to  whom  the  world  was  as 
much  indebted  for  the  establishment  of  the  line  as  to  any 
man — came  over  to  England  upon  the  completion  of  the 
telegraph  between  Nova  Scotia  and  Newfoundland.  He 
then  joined  with  the  late  Mr.  Brett  and  himself  (Sir  C. 
Bright)  with  the  view  of  extending  this  system  to  Europe, 
and  they  mutually  agreed,  as  also  did  Mr.  Whitehouse 
later,  to  carry  out  the  undertaking.  A  meeting  was  first 
held  in  Liverpool,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  their 
friends  had  subscribed  the  necessary  capital.  So  that  in 
greeting  those  who  had  just  returned  from  the  last  ex- 
pedition— Mr.  Canning,  Mr.  Clifford,  Captain  Anderson, 
and  other  guests  of  the  evening — Liverpool  was  fitly 
welcoming  those  who  had  accomplished  the  crowning 
success  of  an  enterprise  to  which  at  the  outset  she  had  so 
largely  contributed  (applause). 

The  circumstances  connected  with  the  first  cable 
would  be  in  the  recollection  of  every  one,  and,  although 
the  loss  was  considerable,  the  experience  gained  was  of  no 
small  moment.  A  few  months  after  the  old  line  had 
ceased  to  work,  their  chairman  (Sir  S.  Northcote)  con- 
sulted him  on  behalf  of  the  Government  as  to  the  best 
form   of   cable    for   connecting   us   telegraphically   with 


JUBILATIONS  211 

Gibraltar,  and  he  (Sir  C.  Bright)  did  not  hesitate  to 
recommend  the  same  type  of  conductor  and  insulator 
which  he  had  himself  before  suggested  for  the  Atlantic 
line — a  higher  speed  being  desirable.  This  class  of  con- 
ductor in  the  newly  laid  Atlantic  cable  appeared  likely  to 
give  every  satisfaction,  he  was  happy  to  say,  and  the 
mechanical  construction  of  the  cable,  also  the  same  as 
that  he  had  previously  specified  for  the  Gibraltar  line, 
appeared  to  have  admirably  met  some  of  the  difficulties 
experienced  in  cable  operations. 

The  credit  attached  to  these  second  and  third  Atlantic 
cables  must  mainly  rest  with  the  Telegraph  Construction 
Company  (formerly  Messrs.  Glass,  Elliot  &  Co.)  and  their 
staff,  inasmuch  as  in  this  case  the  responsibility  rested 
with  them  throughout.  The  directors — including  Mr. 
Glass,  Mr  Elliot,  Mr.  Gooch,  Mr.  Pender,  Mr.  Barclay, 
and  Mr.  Brassey — deserved  the  reward  which  they  and  the 
shareholders  would  no  doubt  reap.  To  Mr.  Glass,  upon 
whom  the  principal  responsibility  of  the  manufacture 
devolved,  the  greatest  praise  was  due  for  his  indomitable 
perseverance  in  the  enterprise.  Then  the  art  of  insulating 
the  conducting-wire  had  been  so  wonderfully  improved 
by  Mr.  Chatterton  and  Mr.  Willoughby  Smith,  that, 
nowadays,  a  very  feeble  electrical  current  was  sufficient  to 
work  the  longest  circuits,  an  enormous  advance  on  the 
state  of  affairs  nine  years  previously.  Again,  they  must 
not  forget  how  much  of  the  success  now  attained  was  due 
to  Professor  Thomson  and  his  delicate  signaling-appa- 
ratus, the  advantages  of  which  have  since  1858  been  more 
firmly  established.  Mr.  Varley  had  also  done  most 
useful  work  since  becoming  electrician  to  the  "Atlantic" 
Company.  Moreover,  he  (Sir  C.  Bright)  hoped  the 
active  personal  services  of  his  partner,  Mr.  Latimer 
Clark,  would  not  be  forgotten. 

It  was  satisfactory  to  find  that  the  cables  were  already 
being  worked  at  a  very  large  profit.  This  system  would 
doubtless  be  quadrupled  within  a  short  period,  when  the 
land-lines  on  the  American  side  were  improved  (hear, 
hear,  and  applause).  With  this  commercial  success — 
combined  with  the  improvements    introduced  into  sub- 


212     THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

marine  cables,  and  the  power  of  picking  up  and  repairing 
them  from  vast  depths — there  was  a  future  for  submarine 
telegraphy  to  which  scarcely  any  bounds  could  be  imagined. 
A  certain  amount  had  already  been  done,  but  China  and 
Japan,  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  South  America  and 
the  West  India  Islands,  must  all  be  placed  within  speaking- 
distance  of  England.  When  this  last  has  been  accom- 
plished, but  not  till  then,  telegraphic  engineers  might 
take  a  short  rest  from  their  labors  and  ask  with  some 
little  pride: 

Quce  regio  in  terris  nostri  non  plena  laboris?  (loud 
applause). 

Then  followed  speeches  from  Lord  Stanley,  the 
American  Consul  (on  behalf  of  Mr.  Cyrus  Field), 
and  others. 

Honors  were  subsequently  bestowed  on  some 
of  the  various  gentlemen  most  immediately  con- 
cerned in  these — at  last — wholly  successful  un- 
dertakings of  1865  and  1866,  which  left  their 
results  behind  in  complete  and  lasting  form. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
SUBSEQUENT  ATLANTIC  LINES 

As  a  natural  sequence  other  Atlantic  cables  fol- 
lowed in  course  of  time. 

Thus  in  1869  France  was  put  into  direct  tele- 
graphic communication  with  America  by  means 
of  a  cable  from  Brest  to  the  island  of  St.  Pierre, 


SUBSEQUENT  ATLANTIC   LINES  213 

and  another  from  St.  Pierre  to  Sydney,  U.S.A.* 
The  former  length  was  manufactured  by  the 
Telegraph  Construction  and  Maintenance  Com- 
pany, and  the  latter  by  Mr.  W.  T.  Henley.  The 
Telegraph  Construction  Company  were  the  con- 
tractors for  laying  the  whole  cable  on  behalf  of 
the  French  Atlantic  Cable  Company  (Societe  du 
Cable  Trans-Atlantique  Francais).f 

This  work  was  successfully  accomplished  from 
the  Great  Eastern  (Captain  Robert  Halpin)  by 
the  same  staff  as  had  laid  the  1866  cable.  Owing 
to  the  route,  this  line  was  materially  longer  than 
the  previous  Atlantic  cables,  its  length  (from 
Brest  to  St.  Pierre)  being  as  much  as  2,685 
nautical  miles.  The  working-speed  attained  on 
the  French  Atlantic  cable  was  ten  and  a  half 
words  per  minute.  The  conductor  of  the  Brest- 
St.  Pierre  section  was  composed  of  seven  copper 
wires  stranded  together,  weighing  400  pounds  per 
nautical  mile,  covered  with  a  gutta-percha  insu- 
lator of  the  same  weight.  The  core  of  the  St. 
Pierre-Sydney  section  was  made  up  as  follows : 
Copper  =107  pounds  per  nautical  mile ;  gutta- 
percha =  150  pounds  per  nautical  mile.  Like 
the  previous  lines,  this  cable  has  been  "down," 
electrically  speaking,  for  some  years.  It  proved 
a  very  costly  one  in  repairs,  one  expedition  alone 
having  run  into  as  much  as  £95,000. 

In  1873  the-  Direct  United  States  Cable  Com- 

*  This  enterprise,  although  mainly  on  behalf  of  France 
and  the  rest  of  the  European  continent,  was  principally 
advanced  by  financiers  in  England;  the  working  of  the 
cable  was  also  chiefly  under  British  direction  and  manage- 
ment. 

f  Afterward,  in  1873,  merged  with  its  cable  into  the 
Anglo-American  Telegraph  Company  and  its  system. 


214    THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

pany  was  formed,  being  the  first  competitor — 
from  this  country — with  the  "Anglo-American" 
Company.*  Messrs.  Siemens  Brothers,  who  had 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  promotion  of  the 
scheme,  were  the  contractors,  both  for  manu- 
facture and  for  submersion.  It  was,  indeed,  the 
first  really  important  length  with  which  this  firm 
had  been  concerned  as  manufacturers.  The  lay- 
ing was  attended  with  complete  success,  and  the 
line  opened  to  the  public  in  1875.  Later  on,  in 
1877,  the  "Direct  United  States"  Company  was  re- 
constructed, their  system  entering  into  the  "pool" 
or  "joint  purse."  The  latter  was  established 
shortly  after  the  1869  Atlantic  cable  had  been  laid, 
constituting  one  great  financial  combination. 

In  1879  another  French  company  was  formed 
to  establish  independent  communication  between 
France  and  the  rest  of  the  European  Continent  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  United  States  of  America  on 
the  other.  The,  to  English  ears  and  lips,  some- 
what cumbersome  title  of  this  concern  was  La 
Compagnie  Francaise  du  Telegraphe  de  Paris  a 

*  This  company  had  just  had  two  fresh  cables  laid  for 
them  (1873  and  1874)  by  the  Telegraph  Construction  Com- 
pany with  some  of  their  usual  staff.  The  laying  of  the  1874 
Atlantic  was  the  last  piece  of  telegraph  work  performed  by 
the  Great  Eastern.  She  has  since  been  broken  up,  after  being 
employed,  among  other  things,  as  a  sort  of  variety  show. 
New  cables  were  first  rendered  necessary — according  to  the 
joint-purse  agreement  previously  referred  to — by  the  final 
breakdown,  after  several  repairs,  of  the  1866  cable  in  1872. 
Later  on  (in  1877)  the  1865  also  succumbed,  and  another 
"Anglo"  cable  was  laid  by  the  same  contractors  in  1880. 
The  Telegraph  Construction  and  Maintenance  Company 
laid  this  1880  cable  without  any  hitch  or  stoppage  within  the 
surprisingly  short  space  of  twelve  days,  the  record  up  to  date 
in  Atlantic  cable-laying. 


SUBSEQUENT   ATLANTIC   LINES  215 

New  York,  but  it  soon  became  styled  in  England 
the  "P.  Q.  Company,"  after  M.  Pouyer-Quertier, 
its  presiding  genius.  The  cable  was  made  and 
laid  in  the  same  year  by  Messrs.  Siemens  Broth- 
ers, though  the  scheme  had  taken  three  years  to 
reach  contract  point.  The  "P.  Q."  Company  in 
1894  amalgamated  with  La  Societe  Franchise  des 
Telegraphes  Sous-marins,  under  the  title  of  La 
Compagnie  Francaise  des  Cables  Telegraphiques. 

In  1 88 1  an  American  company  was  formed, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  late  Mr.  Jay  Gould, 
entitled  The  American  Telegraph  and  Cable 
Company,  with  a  view  to  partaking  in  the  profits 
of  transatlantic  telegraphy  by  establishing  an- 
other line  of  communication  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  and  thence  to  the  rest  of 
Europe.  This  cable  was  also  constructed  and  laid 
(in  the  course  of  that  year)  by  Messrs.  Siemens 
Brothers,  who  were  part  promoters  of  the  enter- 
prise, as  well  as  another  cable  for  the  same  system 
in  the  following  year,  1882.  This  company's 
cables  are  leased  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  which  was  practically  Jay  Gould's 
property,  and  remained  so  up  to  close  on  the  time 
of  his  death,  a  few  years  ago.  In  1883  the  above 
system  entered  the  "Pool" — the  happy  destination 
for  which,  maybe,  it  was  originally  launched  into 
existence. 

A  fresh  competitor  arrived  in  1884  in  the  per- 
son of  the  Commercial  Cable  Company.  Two 
cables  were  laid  across  the  Atlantic  for  this  com- 
pany in  the  same  year,  its  promoters  wisely  fore- 
seeing that,  in  view  of  the  continual  chance  of  a 
breakdown,  this  was  the  only  way  in  which  they 
could  safely  attempt  to  compete  with  their  more 


216     THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

firmly  established  rivals.  The  ''Commercial" 
Company  was  mainly  promoted  by  two  American 
millionaires,  "Mr.  J.  W.  Mackay,  the  celebrated 
New  York  financier,  and  Mr.  Gordon  Bennett,  the 
proprietor  of  the  New  York  Herald ;  with  them 
were  associated  Messrs.  Siemens  Brothers,  who 
afterward  became  the  contractors  for  the  enter- 
prise. These  cables,  like  the  Jay  Gould  lines, 
stretch  from  the  extreme  southwest  point  of  Ire- 
land (which  is  connected  by  special  cable  with 
England)  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  thence  to  the 
United  States,  one  of  them  direct  to  New  York. 
The  system  is  directly  connected  with  that  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  thus  afford- 
ing ready  communication  with  the  Dominion. 

Neither  the  "Commercial"  Company's  system 
nor  that  of  the  Compagnie  Francaise  des  Cables 
Telegraphiques  is  at  present  in  the  "Atlantic 
Pool." 

In  1894  yet  two  more  additions  were  made  to 
the  list  of  Atlantic  cables — one  on  behalf  of  the 
Commercial  Cable  Company,  and  the  other  for  the 
"Anglo-American"  Company.  The  new  "Com- 
mercial" line  was  constructed  and  laid  by  Messrs. 
Siemens  Brothers,  and  the  "Anglo"  cable  by  the 
Telegraph  Construction  Company.  Fig.  43  shows 
the  type  adopted  for  the  deepest  water  of  the 
latter,  and  Fig.  44  that  for  the  shore  ends.  Here 
the  wires,  besides  being  of  a  very  large  gauge, 
are  applied  with  an  extremely  short  lay  (hence  the 
elliptic  appearance,  though  circular  in  reality),  in 
order  to  increase  the  weight  of  iron,  and  thereby 
avoid  shifting  and  abrasion.  This  type  is  now  in 
constant  use  where  rocks,  ice-floes,  strong  cur- 
rents, or  rough  weather  are  experienced.     Special 


SUBSEQUENT  ATLANTIC   LINES  217 

arrangements  were  made  in  the  design  of  both 
these  cables  to  meet  the  requirements  of  increased 
speed.  Since  the  successful  application  to  sub- 
marine cables  of  various  modifications  of  Wheat- 
stone's  automatic  transmitter,  the  limit  to  the 
speed  attainable  only  depends,  practically  speak- 
ing, upon  the  type  of  cable  employed.  On  these 
principles  the  core  of  the  new  "Commercial"  cable 
was  composed  of  a  copper  conductor  weighing 
500  pounds  per  nautical  mile,  covered  with  a 
gutta-percha  insulating-sheath  weighing  320 
pounds  per  nautical  mile,  while  the  new  "Anglo" 
has  a  core  with  conductor  weighing  650  pounds 
per  nautical  mile,  and  gutta-percha  insulator  400 


Fig.  43. — Anglo-American  Fig.  44. — Shore-end  of  the 

Atlantic  Cable  (1894) :  deep-  1894   "Anglo"  Cable.      Re- 

sea  type.  duced  size. 

pounds  per  nautical  mile,  involving  a  completed 
cable  (main  type)  nearly  double  the  weight  of 
previous  corresponding  lines. 

The  actual  speed  obtained  by  automatic  trans- 
mission with  the  latter  cable  is  as  high  as  forty- 
seven  (or  even  up  to  fifty)  five-letter  words  per 
minute.  On  the  previous,  lighter,  Atlantic  cores 
twenty-five  to  twenty-eight  words  per  minute  was 
the  usual  maximum  speed  attainable ;  the  former, 


218     THE   STORY   OF  THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE 

say,  by  average  transmission  and  average  receiv- 
ing, and  the  latter  by  automatic  transmission — 
other  circumstances  corresponding.  Practically 
all  submarine  cables  between  important  points — 
and  certainly  all  those  across  the  Atlantic — are 
now  "duplexed" — a  system  of  electrical  working 
(instituted  by  Messrs.  Muirhead  in  1875)  which 
enables  messages  to  be  sent  in  both  directions  at 
the  same  time.  The  result  of  this  is  nowadays  to 
practically  double  the  carrying  capacity  and  earn- 
ing power  of  the  line,  the  effective  speed  in  either 
direction  remaining  virtually  the  same  as  in  "sim- 
plex" working,  provided  the  cable  is  in  good  con- 
dition.* The  armor  of  this  cable  (Fig.  43)  is 
also  a  good  example  of  present-day  practise,  each 
wire  (usually  covered  with  compounded  tape) 
butting  against  the  next;  this  is  found  to  be  the 
most  durable  form  for  a  deep-sea  cable. 

In  1898  another  French  Atlantic  line  of  a  sim- 
ilar type  to  the  above  was  laid.  This  involved 
the  longest  Atlantic  cable-section  in  existence, 
i.  e.,  3,174  nautical  miles,  from  Brest  to  Cape  Cod, 
and  was  the  first  Atlantic  line  made  and  laid  by 
Frenchmen,  with  the  active  assistance,  as  regards 
laying,  of  the  Silvertown  Company. 

Recently,  too,  a  German  Atlantic  cable  has 
been  laid  by  the  Telegraph  Construction  Com- 
pany from  Emden  to  the  Azores,  and  hence  to 
New  York. 

The  various  proprietary  companies  here  named 
have  had  duplicating  lines  laid  for  them  from 

*  Thus  the  Atlantic  cable  of  to-day  may  be  credited  with 
an  "output"  of  100  words  a  minute  as  compared  with  a  single 
word  in  the  same  period,  such  as  was  at  first  obtained  in  the 
pioneer  days  of  on°  cable  worked  by  one  company. 


ATLANTIC    CABLE   SYSTEMS  219 

time  to  time,  but  these  it  is  not  necessary  to  fur- 
ther allude  to. 

Neither  has  it  been  thought  necessary  to  give 
particulars  regarding  the  methods  of  construc- 
tion, laying,  testing  or  working  of  any  of  these 
later  lines  following  on  the  pioneer  undertakings, 
except  where  special  novelties  were  introduced. 
For  similar  reasons — and  seeing  that  the  respon- 
sibility of  these  later  lines  rested  with  contractors 
— the  names  of  their  permanent  staff  acting  for 
them  have  not  been  introduced. 


CHAPTER   XIX 
ATLANTIC  CABLE  SYSTEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

Connecting  Links — Tariff — Revenue 

As  a  part  of  the  union  between  the  old  world 
and  the  new,  there  are  altogether  fifteen  cables 
now  working  across  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean 
(see  Fig.  45),  such  as  are  usually  termed  "At- 
lantic cables."  Some  of  the  Atlantic  companies 
have  special  cables  of  their  own  from  the  landing- 
place  on  the  coast  of  Ireland  to  points  on  the  Con- 
tinental coasts.  The  figure  on  page  221  suggests 
one  of  the  difficulties  any  wireless  system  would 
have  to  contend  with  in  attempting  at  transatlan- 
tic telegraphy  on  a  commercial  basis.*      Some  of 

*  Wireless  telegraphy  is  at  present  a  comparatively  slow- 
working  affair;  and  if  it  is  to  successfully  compete  with  our 
Atlantic  cables,  this  means  a  great  multiplication  of  trans- 


220     THE   STORY   OF   THE   ATLANTIC    CABLE 

these  cables  at  each  end  of  the  corresponding 
main  section  contain  more  than  one  insulated  con- 
ductor. 

Tariff. — In  the  early  pioneer  days  of  ocean 
telegraphy  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company 
started  with  a  minimum  tariff  of  £20  for  twenty 
words,  and  £1  for  each  additional  word.  This 
was  first  reduced  to  £  10  for  twenty  words,  and 
was  further  altered  later  on  to  £5  for  ten  words. 
After  this  it  stood  for  a  long  time  at  a  minimum 
of  30s.  for  ten  words  of  five  letters  each.  Subse- 
quently, in  1867,  the  Anglo-American  Company 
tried  a  word-rate  of  £1  for  the  1865  and  1866 
Atlantic  cables ;  but  it  was  not  until  1872  that  Mr. 
Henry  Weaver,  their  able  manager,  first  insti- 
tuted a  regular  word-rate  system  (without  any 
minimum)  of  4s.  per  word.  At  the  present  time 
(1903),  thanks  to  competition,  to  technical  im- 
provements in  the  plant,  and  increased  traffic — 
bringing  in  its  train  those  economies  in  the  work- 
ing which  are  always  possible  in  a  larger  scale  of 
operation — the  rate  stands  at  is.  a  word  with  all 
the  Atlantic  companies.  Some  day  we  may, 
perhaps,  see  a  sixpenny  transatlantic  tariff  in  per- 
manent force. 

Revenue. — The  fifteen  Atlantic  cables  now  in 
use  represent  a  total  capital  of  well  over  £20,000,- 
000  sterling.  A  knowledge  of  the  profits  derived 
from  each  system  is  not  readily  arrived  at;  but 

atlantic  circuits  all  more  or  less  close  together,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, all  more  or  less  liable  to  interfere  with  each  other 
under  existing  conditions.  Probably,  however,  any  new 
company  formed  for  the  purposes  of  telegraphic  communi- 
cation between  different  countries  would  not  confine  itself 
— either  in  name  or  practise — to  cables,  but  would  also  culti- 
vate the  "wireless"  system  of  telegraphy. 


222     THE   STORY   OF   THE  ATLANTIC   CABLE 

from  a  comparison  of  the  traffic  receipts  or 
" money  returns"  of  the  oldest  existing  Atlantic 
company  at  different  periods,  we  are  bound  to 
conclude  that  the  "takings"  are,  roughly  speak- 
ing, very  much  the  same  now  as  they  were 
twenty-five  years  ago.  This  is  explainable  by 
the  fact  that,  although  the  number  of  messages 
now  passing  is  much  greater,  the  reduction  of  the 
rate  (with  the  ever-increasing  competition  of 
rival  lines)  just  about  cancels  the  advantage,  so 
far  as  receipts  are  concerned.  Roughly  speak- 
ing, however,  the  annual  gross  traffic  on  trans- 
atlantic telegraphy  stands  at  about  £1,200,000, 
divided  among  two  English  companies,  two 
American,  one  French,  and  one  German  com- 
pany. Both  the  two  latter  are  materially  sub- 
sidized by  their  respective  Governments,  who 
now  foresee  the  desirability  of  being  independent 
of  cables  under  English  control. 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3  9031  01460897  0 


TK  5625  ♦  B87x 

Bright?  Charles?  1863- 

The  story  of  the  Atlantic 


TK  5625  *B87x 

Bright?  Charles?  1863- 

The  story  of  the  Atlantic 
cable? 


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